2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season

The 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level, began on September 1, 2011 and concluded with the National Championship Game of the NCAA Division I Football Championship on January 7, 2012 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. North Dakota State University won their first FCS championship, defeating Sam Houston State by a final score of 17-6.

New FCS program

 * The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), which played its first football season in school history, was technically a new FCS program. However, UTSA announced before the 2011 season that it was transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The Roadrunners played one season as an FCS independent, and under NCAA rules for transitioning programs were ineligible for the FCS playoffs. They will then join the Western Athletic Conference in 2012, but will be ineligible for FBS bowl games. UTSA will become a full FBS member upon completion of the transition in 2013. The Roadrunners, coached by former Miami head coach Larry Coker, play at the Alamodome in downtown San Antonio.

Teams transitioning to FBS
In addition to UTSA, three other schools began transitions to the FBS. They are subject to the same restrictions as UTSA regarding postseason eligibility until 2013.
 * The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), currently a member of the non-football Atlantic 10 Conference and a football-only member of the Colonial Athletic Association, will move for football only to the Mid-American Conference effective in 2012.
 * The University of South Alabama, after two years as an unclassified NCAA program, played its first complete NCAA season. The Jaguars, already full members of the Sun Belt Conference, will eventually join that conference for football as well.
 * Texas State University–San Marcos (Texas State), a Southland Conference member, will join the WAC along with UTSA in 2012. As a result, they were classified as an FCS Independent in 2011 despite playing a full seven-game Southland Conference schedule.

FCS team wins over FBS teams

 * September 3:
 * Richmond 23, Duke 21
 * Sacramento State 29, Oregon State 28 (OT)
 * September 17:
 * Indiana State 44, Western Kentucky 16
 * September 24:
 * Sam Houston State 48, New Mexico 45 (OT)
 * North Dakota State 37, Minnesota 24
 * Southern Utah 41, UNLV 16

Automatic berths for conference champions

 * Big Sky Conference – Montana
 * Big South Conference – Stony Brook
 * Colonial Athletic Association – Towson
 * Missouri Valley Football Conference – North Dakota State
 * Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Norfolk State
 * Northeast Conference – Albany
 * Ohio Valley Conference – Tennessee Tech
 * Patriot League – Lehigh
 * Southern Conference – Georgia Southern
 * Southland Conference – Sam Houston State

At large qualifiers

 * Big Sky Conference – Montana State
 * Colonial Athletic Association – James Madison, Maine, New Hampshire, Old Dominion
 * Missouri Valley Football Conference – Northern Iowa
 * Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Kentucky
 * Southern Conference – Appalachian State, Wofford
 * Southland Conference – Central Arkansas

No teams from the conferences that do not have automatic bids—currently the Great West Conference and Pioneer Football League—received bids.

Abstains
(Overall Record, Conference Record)
 * Ivy League – Harvard
 * Southwestern Athletic Conference – Grambling State

NCAA FCS Playoff bracket
* Host institution