The 2024 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The regular season began on August 24 and ended in November. The postseason began in November and, aside from any scheduled all-star games, ended on January 6, 2025 with the 2025 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Due to the structure of the calendar in 2024, FCS teams were allowed to play 12 regular-season games instead of the normal 11.

Notable headlines

  • April 19 - The NCAA approved numerous technology rules such as teams having the option of using tablets to view in-game video for the 2024 season.
    • Numerous conferences such as the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), Big Sky Conference, United Athletic Conference, Patriot League, Southwestern Athletic Conference and the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference partnered with a company called GameStrat for their teams to utilize in-game video technology.
    • 7 out of the final 8 playoff teams leveraged GameStrat's in-game video technology.
  • April 25 – The NCAA approved an increase in the number of seeded teams in the FCS playoff bracket from 8 to 16, effective for the 2024 season. The number of qualifying teams and the bracket format will remain otherwise unchanged.
  • May 29 – Stephen F. Austin announced it would leave the United Athletic Conference (UAC) on July 1 to rejoin the Southland Conference (SLC) after a three-year absence.
  • October 9:
    • The NCAA Division I Council approved the recommended reduction of the FBS and FCS transfer portal to 30 days, though with a different schedule than recommended. The fall window, which opens on the Monday after the FBS conference championship games, will be open only for 20 days. A 10-day spring portal will open in mid-April.
    • The Council also abolished the National Letter of Intent program effective immediately. Written offers of athletics aid will replace the NLI.
    • The Council introduced a proposal that would shorten the transition periods for schools wishing to reclassify from Division II or Division III to Division I. The Council would approve this proposal at its January 2025 meeting, thereby reducing the transition periods for D-II and D-III schools by a year, respectively to three and four years.
  • November 7 – Texas A&M University–Commerce announced a name change to East Texas A&M University, effective immediately.
  • December 18 - The Ivy League announced starting in the 2025 season, the league champion will participate in the NCAA Division I Championship.

Conference changes and new programs

Conference standings

Playoff qualifiers

Automatic berths for conference champions

At-large qualifiers

Abstentions

  • Ivy League – Harvard
  • Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State
  • Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State

Postseason

The FCS again features a 24-team postseason bracket: 10 teams decided via automatic bids issued to conference champions, and 14 at-large bids (see above). Where previously the top eight teams were seeded, the top 16 teams were seeded this year, a change from the 2023 season.

Bowl game

NCAA Division I playoff bracket

* Hosted despite being the unseeded team (Illinois State unable to host due to facilities conflicts)

Source:

Rankings

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

Pre-season polls

STATS source:
AFCA source:


Final rankings

Kickoff games

The regular season began on Saturday, August 24 with four games in Week 0:

  • FCS Kickoff (Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Alabama): Southeast Missouri State 37, North Alabama 15
  • Hawaii 35, Delaware State 14
  • No. 4 Montana State 35, New Mexico 31
  • MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Center Parc Stadium, Atlanta): Florida A&M 24, Norfolk State 23

Regular season top 10 matchups

Rankings reflect the Stats Perform Poll.

  • Week 6
    • No. 2 North Dakota State defeated No. 7 North Dakota, 41–17 (Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota)
  • Week 7
    • No. 3 Montana State defeated No. 7 Idaho, 38–7 (Bobcat Stadium, Bozeman, Montana)
  • Week 8
    • No. 2 North Dakota State defeated No. 1 South Dakota State, 13–9 (Dakota Marker – Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota)
  • Week 9
    • No. 3 South Dakota State defeated No. 4 South Dakota, 20–17OT (Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, South Dakota)
  • Week 11
    • No. 4 UC Davis defeated No. 7 Montana, 30–14 (Washington–Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Montana)
  • Week 12
    • No. 2 Montana State defeated No. 4 UC Davis, 30–28 (UC Davis Health Stadium, Davis, California)
  • Week 13
    • No. 4 South Dakota defeated No. 1 North Dakota State, 29–28 (DakotaDome, Vermillion, South Dakota)
    • No. 2 Montana State defeated No. 9 Montana, 34–11 (Brawl of the Wild – Bobcat Stadium, Bozeman, Montana)

Upsets

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

Regular season

During the regular season, thirty-four unranked teams defeated ranked teams.

  • September 7, 2024
    • Wofford 26, No. 14 Richmond 19
    • Charleston Southern 24, No. 15 Furman 20
    • Campbell 24, No. 17 Western Carolina 16
  • September 14, 2024
    • Lamar 17, No. 20 Weber State 16
    • Duquesne 28, No. 21 Youngstown State 25
    • Western Carolina 24, No. 22 Elon 17
  • September 21, 2024
    • Columbia 31, No. 18 Lafayette 20
  • September 28, 2024
    • Northern Arizona 34, No. 10 Sacramento State 16
    • Maine 34, No. 21 Albany 20
    • McNeese 28, No. 25 Weber State 26
  • October 4, 2024
    • Harvard 28, No. 21 New Hampshire 23
  • October 5, 2024
    • Weber State, 55, No. 8 Montana 48OT
    • Towson 34, No. 12 William & Mary 27
    • Houston Christian 43, No. 22 McNeese 22
    • Chattanooga 17, No. 23 East Tennessee State 10
  • October 12, 2024
    • North Alabama 47, No. 10 Abilene Christian 34
    • Missouri State 41, No. 16 Illinois State 7
    • Eastern Washington 35, No. 18 Sacramento State 28
    • Northern Colorado 21, No. 20 Weber State 17
    • Stephen F. Austin 27, No. 22 Lamar 20
  • October 19, 2024
    • Maine 35, No. 5 Villanova 7
    • Samford 55, No. 7 Mercer 35
    • Jackson State 35, No. 25т Florida A&M 21
  • October 26, 2024
    • Youngstown State 41, No. 7 North Dakota 40OT
    • Stony Brook 35, No. 16 William & Mary 13
  • October 31, 2024
    • South Carolina State 24, No. 19 North Carolina Central 21
  • November 2, 2024
    • Utah Tech 34, No. 11 Central Arkansas 21
    • Eastern Kentucky 17, No. 13 Tarleton State 13
    • Indiana State 35, No. 15 North Dakota 31
    • Western Carolina 38, No. 18 Chattanooga 34
    • Harvard 31, No. 22 Dartmouth 27
    • UT Martin 28, No. 25 Tennessee State 21
  • November 9, 2024
    • Lindenwood 24, No. 6 Southeast Missouri State 12
    • Delaware 24, No. 11 Rhode Island 21
    • Eastern Kentucky 31, No. 16 Central Arkansas 24
    • Elon 40, No. 20 William & Mary 36
    • East Tennessee State 24, No. 22 Western Carolina 21
  • November 16, 2024
    • Monmouth 40, No. 9 Villanova 33
    • New Hampshire 31, No. 16 Stony Brook 30
    • Tennessee Tech 10, No. 18 UT Martin 9
    • Samford 36, No. 19 Chattanooga 13
    • Furman 24, No. 21 East Tennessee State 21
    • Southern Utah 38, No. 24 Central Arkansas 31
  • November 23, 2024
    • Stephen F. Austin 32, No. 11 Abilene Christian 19
    • Tennessee State 28, No. 12 Southeast Missouri State 21
    • Yale 34, No. 17 Harvard 29
    • Monmouth 55, No. 18 Stony Brook 47
    • Central Connecticut 21, No. 19 Duquesne 14

Postseason

FCS team wins over FBS teams

  • August 24:
    • No. 4 Montana State 35, New Mexico 31
  • September 7:
    • Saint Francis (PA) 23, Kent State 17
    • No. 7 Idaho 17, Wyoming 13
    • Southern Utah 27, UTEP 24OT
  • September 21:
    • Monmouth 45, FIU 42
  • September 28:
    • UT Martin 24, Kennesaw State 13

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2024, and will include any changes announced after a team's last regularly scheduled games but before its playoff games. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2024, see 2023 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.

End of season

This list includes coaching changes announced during the season that did not take effect until the end of the season.

See also

  • 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season
  • 2024 NCAA Division II football season
  • 2024 NCAA Division III football season
  • 2024 NAIA football season
  • 2024 U Sports football season

References


2024 FCS playoff bracket predictions entering the final month of the

Six Burning Questions For the 2024 FCS Season Opta Analyst

FCS playoffs schedule 2024 Full TV channels, times, live streams

Ncaa Division I Football 2024 Tobye Gloriane

2024 FCS Football Season All the Key Dates Coming Right at You Opta