2025 NCAA Division I FCS football season

For the 2025 FBS season, see 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season.

2025 NCAA Division I FCS season
Regular season
Number of teams	129
Duration	August 23 – December 6
Playoff
Duration	November 29 – January 5
Championship date	January 5, 2026
Championship site	FirstBank Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee
NCAA Division I FCS football seasons
« 2024

The 2025 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, is organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The regular season began on August 23 and will end in November. The postseason will begin on November 29 and end on January 5, 2026 with the 2026 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. ^[1]

Due to the structure of the calendar in 2025, FCS teams are allowed to play 12 regular-season games instead of the usual 11. ^[2]

Conference changes and new programs

Two schools are playing their first FCS seasons in 2025—one transitioning from NCAA Division II, and the other playing its first season of varsity football. One other school changed conferences within FCS after the 2024 season. Two others left FCS for the Football Bowl Subdivision.

School	2024 conference	2025 conference	Ref
Delaware	CAA Football	CUSA (FBS)	[3] [4]
Missouri State	MVFC	CUSA (FBS)	[5] [6]
New Haven	NE-10 (D-II)	NEC	[7] [8]
Richmond	CAA Football	Patriot	[9]
UTRGV	New program	Southland	[10] [11]

The 2025 season will also be the last for at least six programs in their current FCS conferences, and is also Sacred Heart's last season as an FCS independent.

School	2025 conference	2026 conference	Ref
Sacred Heart	Independent	CAA Football	[12]
Saint Francis	NEC	PAC (Division III)	[13]
Southern Utah	UAC	Big Sky	[14]
Tennessee Tech	OVC–Big South	SoCon	[15]
Utah Tech	UAC	Big Sky	[14]
Villanova	CAA Football	Patriot League	[16]
William & Mary	CAA Football	Patriot League	[17]

Notable headlines

• December 12, 2024 – The Ivy League announced that starting with the 2025 football season; the Ivy League champion will compete in the FCS playoffs. This will be the first time that conference has participated in postseason play since the 1945 signing of the Ivy Group Agreement, which initially governed football competition between Ivy schools but was extended to cover all sports in 1954. ^{[18] [a]}
• March 25, 2025 – Saint Francis announced that it would reclassify to NCAA Division III starting in 2026–27, when it will leave the Northeast Conference for the Presidents' Athletic Conference. ^[13]
• April 25, 2025 – William & Mary announced that its football program would leave CAA Football for associate membership in the Patriot League starting in the 2026 season. W&M's non-football sports will remain in the multi-sports CAA, which is a separate entity from CAA Football. ^[17]
• May 5, 2025 – The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) announced a new governance structure that formalized the decades-long informal ties between it and the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), and created a formal relationship between the MVFC and the non-football Summit League. MVC commissioner Jeff Jackson replaced founding MVFC commissioner Patty Viverito following her June 30 retirement, and Summit commissioner Josh Fenton filled the new position of executive advisor at that time. Administrative operations are shared by the MVC and Summit, which are home to all but one of the MVFC's 10 members in the 2025 season. ^[19]
• May 6, 2025 – New Haven announced that it accepted an invite to join the Northeast Conference effective July 1, 2025, and begin reclassification from NCAA Division II to be eligible for postseason play in 2028–29. ^[7]
• June 5, 2025 – Villanova will leave CAA Football after the 2025 season for the Patriot League, while otherwise remaining a member of the non-football Big East Conference. ^[16]
• June 23, 2025 – The NCAA Division I Board of Directors announced that St. Thomas had met all the requirements to be fully instated as a Division I university starting with the 2025–26 academic year. The Tommies will now be eligible for all NCAA postseason tournaments, including the FCS playoffs. ^{[20] [21]}
• June 25, 2025 – The Big Sky Conference announced that Southern Utah and Utah Tech, Western Athletic Conference (WAC) members that play football in the United Athletic Conference (UAC), would join the Big Sky in 2026. ^[14]
• June 26, 2025
  • The Division I Council approved the following measures, to take effect with the 2026 season, which the NCAA's FCS Oversight Committee had recommended on May 6: ^{[22] [23]}
    • Permanent expansion of the FCS regular season from 11 to 12 games.
    • Standardization of the regular season starting date as the Thursday 13 weeks before the FCS playoff bracket is released on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. (The normal start of the FCS regular season had been the Thursday preceding Labor Day.)
    • Elimination of rule exceptions allowing contests that meet legislated criteria to be played as early as the second Saturday before Labor Day. Instead, all FCS teams will be able to play during what the Football Bowl Subdivision calls Week 0.
  • The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and WAC announced that their football alliance, the UAC, would become an all-sports conference in 2026. At that time, the WAC will rebrand as the UAC, with its membership including all seven remaining UAC members with scholarship FCS programs plus non-football UT Arlington. The ASUN membership going forward will consist of five non-football schools, Pioneer Football League member Stetson, and Bellarmine, which plays the non-NCAA variant of sprint football. ^[24]
• July 22, 2025 — CAA Football announced that Sacred Heart would join the conference in 2026, ending the Pioneers' two-year stint as an FCS independent. Sacred Heart will remain a member of the non-football Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. ^[12]
• August 13, 2025 – The Southern Conference announced that Tennessee Tech would join from the Ohio Valley Conference and the OVC–Big South Football Association in 2026. ^[15]

Conference standings

2025 Big Sky Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 6 Montana   0 – 0     1 – 0   No. 8 UC Davis   0 – 0     1 – 0   Cal Poly   0 – 0     1 – 1   No. 10 Idaho   0 – 0     1 – 1   No. 19 Northern Arizona   0 – 0     1 – 1   Northern Colorado   0 – 0     1 – 1   Eastern Washington   0 – 0     0 – 2   No. 3 Montana State   0 – 0     0 – 2   No. 18 Sacramento State   0 – 0     0 – 2   Weber State   0 – 0     0 – 2   Idaho State   0 – 0     0 – 3   Portland State   0 – 0     0 – 3   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 9 Rhode Island   2 – 0     2 – 0   William & Mary   1 – 0     1 – 1   No. 21 Monmouth   0 – 0     2 – 0   New Hampshire   0 – 0     2 – 0   Towson   0 – 0     2 – 0   No. 13 Villanova   0 – 0     1 – 0   Bryant   0 – 0     1 – 1   Elon   0 – 0     1 – 1   Hampton   0 – 0     1 – 1   Albany   0 – 0     0 – 2   North Carolina A&T   0 – 0     0 – 2   Campbell   0 – 1     0 – 2   Maine   0 – 1     0 – 2   Stony Brook   0 – 1     0 – 2   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Ivy League football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Brown   0 – 0     0 – 0   Columbia   0 – 0     0 – 0   Cornell   0 – 0     0 – 0   Dartmouth   0 – 0     0 – 0   Harvard   0 – 0     0 – 0   Penn   0 – 0     0 – 0   Princeton   0 – 0     0 – 0   Yale   0 – 0     0 – 0   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll
2025 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Delaware State   0 – 0     1 – 1   Howard   0 – 0     1 – 1   Norfolk State   0 – 0     1 – 1   South Carolina State   0 – 0     1 – 1   North Carolina Central   0 – 0     1 – 2   Morgan State   0 – 0     0 – 2   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Indiana State   0 – 0     2 – 0   No. 1 North Dakota State   0 – 0     2 – 0   No. 2 South Dakota State   0 – 0     2 – 0   Youngstown State   0 – 0     2 – 0   No. 7 Illinois State   0 – 0     1 – 1   No. 20 North Dakota   0 – 0     1 – 1   Northern Iowa   0 – 0     1 – 1   No. 14 Southern Illinois   0 – 0     1 – 1   Murray State   0 – 0     0 – 2   No. 4 South Dakota   0 – 0     0 – 2   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Northeast Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Central Connecticut   0 – 0     1 – 1   Duquesne   0 – 0     1 – 1   LIU   0 – 0     1 – 1   Mercyhurst*   0 – 0     1 – 1   New Haven*   0 – 0     0 – 2   Robert Morris   0 – 0     0 – 2   Saint Francis   0 – 0     0 – 2   Stonehill   0 – 0     0 – 2   Wagner   0 – 0     0 – 2   * – Ineligible for NEC title and FCS postseason play due to transition from NCAA Division II. As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll
2025 OVC–Big South football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 17 Tennessee Tech   0 – 0     2 – 0   Eastern Illinois   0 – 0     1 – 1   Gardner–Webb   0 – 0     1 – 1   Southeast Missouri State   0 – 0     1 – 1   Tennessee State   0 – 0     1 – 1   Charleston Southern   0 – 0     0 – 2   Lindenwood   0 – 0     0 – 2   UT Martin   0 – 0     0 – 2   Western Illinois   0 – 0     0 – 2   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Patriot League football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 11 Lehigh   1 – 0     2 – 0   Georgetown   0 – 0     2 – 0   Bucknell   0 – 0     1 – 1   Lafayette   0 – 0     1 – 1   Colgate   0 – 0     0 – 2   Fordham   0 – 0     0 – 2   Holy Cross   0 – 0     0 – 2   Richmond   0 – 1     1 – 1   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Pioneer Football League standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Presbyterian   0 – 0     2 – 0   Drake   0 – 0     1 – 0   Butler   0 – 0     1 – 1   Dayton   0 – 0     1 – 1   Marist   0 – 0     1 – 1   Morehead State   0 – 0     1 – 1   San Diego   0 – 0     1 – 1   Stetson   0 – 0     1 – 1   St. Thomas (MN)   0 – 0     1 – 1   Valparaiso   0 – 0     1 – 1   Davidson   0 – 0     0 – 2   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll
2025 Southern Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   The Citadel   1 – 0     1 – 1   East Tennessee State   0 – 0     1 – 1   Furman   0 – 0     1 – 1   VMI   0 – 0     1 – 1   No. 23 Mercer   0 – 0     0 – 1   Chattanooga   0 – 0     0 – 2   Western Carolina   0 – 0     0 – 2   Wofford   0 – 0     0 – 2   Samford   0 – 1     0 – 2   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Southland Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 22 Nicholls   1 – 0     1 – 2   UT Rio Grande Valley   0 – 0     2 – 0   Houston Christian   0 – 0     1 – 1   McNeese   0 – 0     1 – 1   Northwestern State   0 – 0     1 – 1   Lamar   0 – 0     1 – 1   Southeastern Louisiana   0 – 0     1 – 1   East Texas A&M   0 – 0     0 – 2   No. 25 Stephen F. Austin   0 – 0     0 – 2   No. 12 Incarnate Word   0 – 1     1 – 1   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   East Division Alabama A&M   0 – 0     1 – 1   Alabama State   0 – 0     1 – 1   No. 15 Jackson State   0 – 0     1 – 1   Bethune–Cookman   0 – 0     0 – 2   Florida A&M   0 – 0     0 – 2   Mississippi Valley State*   0 – 1     0 – 2   West Division Prairie View A&M   1 – 0     1 – 1   Southern   1 – 0     1 – 2   Grambling State   0 – 0     1 – 1   Alcorn State   0 – 0     0 – 2   Arkansas–Pine Bluff*   0 – 0     0 – 2   Texas Southern   0 – 1     0 – 2   Championship: December 6, 2025 $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant * – Ineligible for FCS postseason play due to failed academic requirements [25] As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll
2025 United Athletic Conference standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 5 Tarleton State   0 – 0     3 – 0   West Georgia*   0 – 0     2 – 0   No. 16 Abilene Christian   0 – 0     1 – 1   Austin Peay   0 – 0     1 – 1   Central Arkansas   0 – 0     1 – 1   Eastern Kentucky   0 – 0     1 – 1   No. 24 Southern Utah   0 – 0     1 – 1   North Alabama   0 – 0     0 – 2   Utah Tech   0 – 0     0 – 2   * – Ineligible for the UAC title and FCS postseason play due to transition from NCAA Division II. As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll	2025 NCAA Division I FCS independents football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Merrimack   –     1 – 1   Sacred Heart   –     1 – 1   As of September 7, 2025 Rankings from STATS Poll

Rankings

Main article: 2025 NCAA Division I FCS football rankings

The top 25 from the Stats Perform and AFCA Coaches polls.

Pre-season polls

Stats Perform
Ranking	Team
1	North Dakota State (54)
2	Montana State (1)
3	South Dakota State
4	South Dakota (1)
5	Incarnate Word
6	Illinois State
7	Montana
8	UC Davis
9	Rhode Island
10	Tarleton State
11	Mercer
12	Idaho
13	Villanova
14	Lehigh
15	Sacramento State
16	Abilene Christian
17	Jackson State
18	Western Carolina
19	Northern Arizona
20	Southern Illinois
21	Tennessee Tech
22	Monmouth
23	Stephen F. Austin
24	Stony Brook
25	Richmond

STATS source: ^[26]

Kickoff games

The regular season begins on Saturday, August 23 in Week 0:

• FCS Kickoff (Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Alabama): No. 11 Mercer vs. No. 8 UC Davis
• MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Center Parc Stadium, Atlanta): North Carolina Central 31, Southern 14
• No. 5 Incarnate Word 6, Nicholls 20
• No. 10 Tarleton State 42, Portland State 0
• Idaho State 31, UNLV 38

Regular season top 10 matchups

Rankings reflect the Stats Perform Poll.

• Week 2
  • No. 2 South Dakota State defeated No. 3 Montana State, 30—24^2OT (Bobcat Stadium, Bozeman, Montana)

Upsets

This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating ranked teams during the season.

Regular season

• August 23, 2025
  • Nicholls 20, No. 5 Incarnate Word 6
• August 30, 2025
  • Presbyterian 15, No. 11 Mercer 10
  • Gardner–Webb 52, No. 18 Western Carolina 45
• September 6, 2025
  • Lamar 20, No. 4 South Dakota 13
  • West Georgia 34, No. 22 Nicholls 10
  • San Diego 30, No. 24 Southern Utah 27

FCS team wins over FBS teams

• August 29
  • No. 10 Tarleton State 30, Army 27^2OT
• August 30
  • Austin Peay 34, Middle Tennessee 14
• September 6
  • Bryant 27, UMass 26
  • LIU 28, Eastern Michigan 23

See also

• 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season
• 2025 NCAA Division II football season
• 2025 NCAA Division III football season
• 2025 NAIA football season
• 2025 U Sports football season

Footnotes

1. The Ivy League officially dates its existence from the 1954 extension of the Ivy Group Agreement.

References

1. "FCS Championship: Future dates and sites". NCAA.com. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
2. "Bylaw 17.11.6.1: Number of Contests (FBS/FCS): Maximum Limitations – Institutional" (PDF). 2023–24 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. August 5, 2023. p. 263. Retrieved August 2, 2024. In championship subdivision football . . . Twelve football contests shall be permissible during those years in which there are 14 Saturdays from the first permissible playing date through the last playing date in November (e.g., 2024, 2025).
3. "CUSA Adds Delaware, Blue Hens to Join in 2025". conferenceusa.com. November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
4. "Delaware Accepts Invitation to Join Conference USA as Full Member". University of Delaware Athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
5. "CUSA Adds Missouri State, Bears to Join in 2025". conferenceusa.com. May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
6. "Missouri State Accepts Invitation to Join Conference USA". Missouri State University Athletics. May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
7. "Charging Ahead: University of New Haven accepts Northeast Conference membership invite". newhavenchargers.com. New Haven Chargers. May 6, 2025. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
8. "Charging Up! University of New Haven Accepts Northeast Conference Membership Invite". northeastconference.org. Northeast Conference. May 6, 2025. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
9. "Richmond Football to Move to Patriot League Following 2024 Season" (Press release). Richmond Spiders Athletics. May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
10. "UTRGV announces approval of football, women's aquatics, band, spirit programs" (Press release). UTRGV Vaqueros. November 18, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
11. "UTRGV Athletics Accepts Invitation to Join Southland Conference in 2024-25" (Press release). UTRGV Vaqueros Athletics. March 25, 2024. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
12. "CAA Football Welcomes Sacred Heart University As Its Newest Member For 2026 Season" (Press release). CAA Football. July 22, 2025. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
13. "Saint Francis University to Reclassify to NCAA Division III, Join Presidents' Athletic Conference" (Press release). Presidents’ Athletic Conference. March 25, 2025. Retrieved March 25, 2025.
14. "The Big Sky Conference Welcomes Southern Utah, Utah Tech Starting in 2026" (Press release). Big Sky Conference. June 25, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
15. "The Southern Conference Approves Tennessee Tech Membership" (Press release). Southern Conference. August 13, 2025. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
16. "Patriot League Announces Villanova to Join League as Associate Member for Football in 2026" (Press release). Patriot League. June 5, 2025. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
17. "William & Mary Football to Join Patriot League" (Press release). William & Mary Tribe. April 25, 2025. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
18. "Play by Play: How Student-Athletes Ended Ivy League Football's 80-Year Ban on Postseason Games | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
19. "Missouri Valley Football Conference, Summit League Forge Partnership" (Press release). Missouri Valley Football Conference. May 5, 2025. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
20. "History in the making: St. THomas instated as full Division I member". tommiesports.com. St. Thomas Tommies. June 23, 2025. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
21. "St. Thomas is now a full Division 1 member, fully eligible for postseason play". kstp.com. KSTP 5 Eyewitness News. June 23, 2025. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
22. "Changes proposed to maximum number of FCS games, standardized start date" (Press release). NCAA. May 6, 2025. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
23. "DI Council introduces proposals to add 2 women's championships" (Press release). NCAA. June 25, 2025. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
24. "Atlantic Sun Conference and Western Athletic Conference to Forge Strategic Alliance" (Press release). United Athletic Conference. June 26, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
25. "Akron handed 2025 bowl ban: Zips flunk out of postseason after failing to meet NCAA academic standings". cbssports.com. CBS Sports. May 6, 2025. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
26. "National Champ NDSU a Decisive Preseason No. 1 in Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll". theanalyst.com. Stats Perform. August 4, 2025. Retrieved August 4, 2025.