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The 2018 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 FCS Championship Game was played on January 5, 2019, in Frisco, Texas. North Dakota State claimed its second consecutive FCS title, and seventh in eight years.

Conference changes and new programs[]

Membership changes[]

School Former conference New conference
Campbell Pioneer Big South
Hampton MEAC FCS Independent
Idaho Sun Belt (FBS) Big Sky
Liberty Big South FBS Independent
North Alabama Gulf South (D–II) FCS Independent
North Dakota Big Sky FCS Independent [lower-alpha 1]

In addition to the schools changing conferences, the 2018 season was the last for Savannah State in D-I with its decision to reclassify all of its sports to D-II.[1]

Other headlines[]

Offseason[]

  • June 13 – Major changes to redshirt rules in Division I football (both FBS and FCS) took effect from this season forward after having been approved by the NCAA Division I Council. Players can now participate in as many as four games in a given season while still retaining redshirt status. The only exception to this new rule is that players who enroll at a school in midyear and participate in postseason competition that takes place during or before their first academic term at that school will lose a full year of athletic eligibility.[3]

Season[]

  • September 10 – The Northeast Conference (NEC) announced that Merrimack College would start a transition from the NCAA Division II Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) and join the NEC effective July 1, 2019. Merrimack's football team is expected to immediately start playing a full NEC schedule, but will not be eligible for the FCS playoffs until becoming a full D-I member in 2023.[4]
  • October 3 – Long Island University announced that it would merge its two current athletic programs—the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, full but non-football members of the NEC, and LIU Post Pioneers, a Division II program that is a full member of the non-football East Coast Conference and an NE-10 football member—effective with the 2019–20 school year. The new program will compete under the LIU name with a new nickname. The Post football team will become the LIU football team, playing in the NEC. There has been no definitive report as to when the new LIU football team will be eligible for the FCS playoffs.[5]
  • October 27 – Central Connecticut's Aaron Dawson ran for 308 yards in the second half, a record for a half throughout Division I, and 361 overall to lead the Blue Devils to a 49–24 win over Wagner.[6]
  • November 17 – In the final game of his college career, Samford quarterback Devlin Hodges set a new FCS record for career passing yardage, surpassing late Alcorn State and NFL great Steve McNair in the Bulldogs' 38–27 win over East Tennessee State. Hodges finished his career with 14,584 yards.[7]
  • January 4 – The NCAA and the Southland Conference (SLC) announced that the FCS championship game, which is currently co-hosted by the SLC, would remain at its current home of Toyota Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas through at least the 2024 season, with an option for the 2025 season.[8]

Pre-season international exhibitions[]

Date Name Location NCAA team Hosting Team Score
May 26, 2018 Drake-China Ambassadors Bowl UIBE, Beijing, China Drake China All-Stars
(AFLC, CAFL, & CBL)
77–0

Kickoff games[]

One kickoff game was played during "Week Zero" on August 25:

FCS team wins over FBS teams[]

(FCS rankings from the STATS poll, FBS rankings from the AP poll.)

  • August 30:
    • UC Davis 44, San Jose State 38
  • September 1:
    • No. 18 Nicholls 26, Kansas 23 OT
    • Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
    • No. 19 Villanova 19, Temple 17
  • September 2:
    • No. 14 North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
  • September 8:
    • No. 22 Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28
  • September 22:

Hurricane Florence[]

All times Eastern

Several games on the east coast were rescheduled, cancelled, or moved due to Hurricane Florence:

  • Coastal Carolina at Campbell moved up to Wednesday, September 12 at 2:00 p.m.
  • Richmond at Saint Francis moved up to Thursday, September 13 at 5:00 p.m.
  • Robert Morris at No. 2 James Madison moved up to Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m.
  • Guilford at Davidson has been moved up to Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m.
  • East Tennessee State at VMI moved up to Friday, September 14 at 2:30 p.m.
  • Western Carolina at Gardner–Webb moved up to Friday, September 14 at 6:00 p.m.
  • North Carolina Central at South Carolina State has been moved to Saturday, November 24
  • Charleston Southern at The Citadel has been moved to Thursday, November 29
  • Norfolk State at Liberty has been moved to Saturday, December 1
  • Elon at William & Mary has been cancelled
  • Savannah State at Howard has been cancelled
  • Tennessee State at Hampton has been cancelled
  • Presbyterian at Stetson has been cancelled
  • Walsh at Jacksonville has been cancelled
  • Colgate at Furman has been cancelled

Sources:[9][10][11]

Conference standings[]

Template:2018 Big Sky Conference football standings Template:2018 Big South Conference football standings Template:2018 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
2018 Ivy League football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
No. 11 Princeton   7 0         10 0  
No. 18 Dartmouth   6 1         9 1  
Harvard   4 3         6 4  
Yale   3 4         5 5  
Penn   3 4         6 4  
Columbia   3 4         6 4  
Cornell   2 5         3 7  
Brown   0 7         1 9  
† – Conference champion
  • The Ivy League does not participate in the FCS Playoffs.
    Rankings from STATS FCS Poll
Template:2018 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings Template:2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
Template:2018 Northeast Conference football standings Template:2018 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
2018 Patriot League football standings
v · d · e Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
No. 8 Colgate $^   6 0         10 2  
Holy Cross   4 2         5 6  
Georgetown   4 2         5 6  
Lehigh   2 4         3 8  
Lafayette   2 4         3 8  
Fordham   2 4         2 9  
Bucknell   1 5         1 10  
† – Conference champion
^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS FCS Poll
Template:2018 Pioneer Football League standings Template:2018 Southern Conference football standings Template:2018 Southland Conference football standings
Template:2018 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings Template:2018 NCAA Division I FCS independents football standings

Conference summaries[]

Championship games[]

Conference Champion Runner-up Score Offensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Coach of the Year
SWAC Alcorn State
9–3 (6–1)
Southern
7–4 (6–1)
37–28 Noah Johnson
(Alcorn State)
De’Arius Christmas
(Grambling State)
Fred McNair
(Alcorn State)

Other conference winners[]

Note: Records are regular-season only, and do not include playoff games.

Conference Champion Record Offensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Coach of the Year
Big Sky Eastern Washington
UC Davis
Weber State
9–2 (7–1)
9–2 (7–1)
9–2 (7–1)
Jake Maier
(UC Davis)
Jay-Tee Tiuli
(Eastern Washington)
Aaron Best
(Eastern Washington)
Dan Hawkins
(UC Davis)
Big South Kennesaw State 10–1 (5–0) Chandler Burks
(Kennesaw State)
Anthony Gore, Jr.
(Kennesaw State)
Brian Bohanon
(Kennesaw State)
CAA Maine 8–3 (7–1) Tom Flacco
(Towson)
Jimmy Moreland
(James Madison)
Joe Harasymiak
(Maine)
Ivy Princeton 10–0 (7–0) John Lovett
(Princeton)
Isiah Swann
(Dartmouth)
Bob Surace
(Princeton)
MEAC North Carolina A&T 9–2 (6–1) Caylin Newton
(Howard)
Darryl Johnson Jr.
(North Carolina A&T)
Sam Washington
(North Carolina A&T)
MVFC North Dakota State 11–0 (8–0) Easton Stick
(North Dakota State)
Jabril Cox
(North Dakota State)
Curt Mallory
(Indiana State)
NEC Duquesne
Sacred Heart
8–3 (5–1)
7–4 (5–1)
A. J. Hines
(Duquesne)
Cam Gill
(Wagner)
Mark Nofri
(Sacred Heart)
Jerry Schmitt
(Duquesne)
OVC Jacksonville State 8–3 (7–1) Marquis Terry
(Southeast Missouri State)
Zach Hall
(Southeast Missouri State)
Tom Matukewicz
(Southeast Missouri State)
Patriot Colgate 9–1 (6–0) James Holland, Jr.
(Colgate)
T. J. Hill
(Colgate)
Dan Hunt
(Colgate)
Pioneer San Diego 9–2 (8–0) Anthony Lawrence
(San Diego)
Nathan Clayberg
(Drake)
Roger Hughes
(Stetson)
Southern East Tennessee State
Furman
Wofford
8–3 (6–2)
6–4 (6–2)
8–3 (6–2)
Devlin Hodges
(Samford)
Isaiah Mack
(Chattanooga)
Randy Sanders
(East Tennessee State)
Southland Incarnate Word
Nicholls
6–4 (6–2)
8–3 (7–2)
Jazz Ferguson
(Northwestern State)
B. J. Blunt
(McNeese State)
Eric Morris
(Incarnate Word)
  1. "Savannah State Plans Athletic Division Reclassification" (Press release). Savannah State Athletics. April 17, 2017. http://www.ssuathletics.com/news/2017/4/17/academics-savannah-state-plans-athletics-division-reclassification.aspx. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  2. Haley, Craig (March 14, 2018). "5 College Football Teams Changing FCS Affiliations in 2018". Athlon Sports & Life. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/4-college-football-teams-changing-fcs-affiliations-2018.
  3. "DI football to offer more participation opportunities" (Press release). NCAA. June 13, 2018. https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/di-football-offer-more-participation-opportunities. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  4. "Merrimack College Accepts Invitation to Join the Northeast Conference" (Press release). Northeast Conference. September 10, 2018. http://www.northeastconference.org/news/2018/9/7/GEN_Merrimack_Joins_NEC_18.aspx. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  5. "Long Island University Announces Unification Into One LIU Division I Program" (Press release). LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. October 3, 2018. https://liuathletics.com/news/2018/10/3/general-long-island-university-announces-unification-into-one-liu-division-i-program. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  6. "CCSU's Aaron Dawson sets record with 308 rushing yards in a half". ESPN. October 27, 2018. http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25101020/ccsu-aaron-dawson-sets-record-308-rushing-yards-half. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  7. "Devlin Hodges notches FCS mark with 14,584 career passing yards". ESPN. November 17, 2018. http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25304719/devlin-hodges-samford-bulldogs-sets-fcs-career-passing-record. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  8. "FCS Championship Will Stay in Frisco Through 2025 With Option for 2026" (Press release). Southland Conference. January 4, 2019. https://southland.org/news/2019/1/3/administration-fcs-championship-will-stay-in-frisco-through-2025-with-option-for-2026.aspx. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  9. Adelson, Andrea. "UNC, NC State, Va. Tech called due to Florence". ESPN. http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24644315/hurricane-florence-impacts-college-football-games-carolinas-virginia. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  10. "Football Cancels Game against Stetson". Presbyterian College. http://www.gobluehose.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211771657&DB_OEM_ID=18100&_ga=2.208847514.90819769.1536855038-479974086.1516366204. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  11. "NCAAF College Football Scores - FCS Week 3". ESPN. http://www.espn.com/college-football/scoreboard/_/group/81/year/2018/seasontype/2/week/3. Retrieved September 14, 2018.

Playoff qualifiers[]

Automatic berths for conference champions[]

Conference Team Appearance Last bid Result
Big Sky Conference Weber State 7th 2017 Quarterfinals (L – James Madison)
Big South Conference Kennesaw State 2nd 2017 Quarterfinals (L – Sam Houston State)
Colonial Athletic Association Maine 8th 2013 Second Round (L – New Hampshire)
Missouri Valley Football Conference North Dakota State 9th 2017 National Champions (W – James Madison)
Northeast Conference Duquesne 2nd 2015 First Round (L – William & Mary)
Ohio Valley Conference Jacksonville State 9th 2017 Second Round (L – Kennesaw State)
Patriot League Colgate 11th 2015 Quarterfinals (L – Sam Houston State)
Pioneer Football League San Diego 4th 2017 Second Round (L – North Dakota State)
Southern Conference Wofford 9th 2017 Quarterfinals (L – North Dakota State)
Southland Conference Nicholls 5th 2017 First Round (L – South Dakota)

At large qualifiers[]

Conference Team Appearance Last bid Result
Big Sky Conference Eastern Washington 13th 2016 Semifinals (L – Youngstown State)
UC Davis 1st
Montana State 9th 2014 First Round (L – South Dakota State)
Colonial Athletic Association Delaware 16th 2010 Championship Game (L – Eastern Washington)
Elon 3rd 2017 First Round (L – Furman)
James Madison 15th 2017 Championship Game (L – North Dakota State)
Stony Brook 4th 2017 Second Round (L – James Madison)
Towson 3rd 2013 Championship Game (L – North Dakota State)
Missouri Valley Football Conference Northern Iowa 20th 2017 Second Round (L – South Dakota State)
South Dakota State 8th 2017 Semifinals (L – James Madison)
Ohio Valley Conference Southeast Missouri State 2nd 2010 Second Round (L – Eastern Washington)
Southern Conference East Tennessee State 2nd 1996 Quarterfinals (L – Montana)
Southland Conference Incarnate Word 1st
Lamar 1st

Abstentions[]

Postseason[]

NCAA FCS Playoff bracket[]

Template:24TeamBracket-Byes2

Bowl games[]

Date Game Site Television Participants Affiliations Results
December 15 Celebration Bowl Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta, Georgia
12:00 pm
ABC North Carolina A&T Aggies (9–2)
Alcorn State Braves (9–3)
MEAC
SWAC
North Carolina A&T 24
Alcorn State 22

Awards and honors[]

Walter Payton Award[]

  • The Walter Payton Award is given to the year's most outstanding offensive player. Finalists:
    • Chandler Burks (QB), Kennesaw State
    • Devlin Hodges (QB), Samford
    • Easton Stick (QB), North Dakota State

Buck Buchanan Award[]

  • The Buck Buchanan Award is given to the year's most outstanding defensive player. Finalists:
    • Zach Hall (LB), Southeast Missouri State
    • Dante Olson (LB), Montana
    • Derick Roberson (DE), Sam Houston State

Jerry Rice Award[]

  • The Jerry Rice Award is given to the year's most outstanding freshman.
    • Winner: Josh Davis (RB), Weber State

Coaches[]

Coaching changes[]

Preseason and in-season[]

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2018. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2018, see 2017 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.

School Outgoing coach Date Reason Replacement
Stephen F. Austin Clint Conque August 6 Resigned Jeff Byrd (interim)
Jackson State Tony Hughes October 28 Fired John Hendrick [lower-alpha 2]

End of season[]

School Outgoing coach Date Reason Replacement
Eastern Illinois Kim Dameron November 18 Contract not renewed Adam Cushing
William & Mary Jimmye Laycock November 18 Retired Mike London[1]
Howard Mike London November 19 Hired as head coach by William & Mary Ron Prince
Northern Arizona Jerome Souers November 19 Retired Chris Ball
Brown Phil Estes November 19 Resigned James Perry
McNeese State Lance Guidry November 20 Contract not renewed Sterlin Gilbert
Sacramento State Jody Sears November 26 Fired Troy Taylor
Texas Southern Michael Haywood November 27 Resigned Clarence McKinney
Stephen F. Austin Jeff Byrd (interim) December 1 Permanent replacement Colby Carthel
James Madison Mike Houston December 3 Hired as head coach by East Carolina Curt Cignetti
Bryant James Perry December 3 Hired as head coach by Brown Chris Merritt
Austin Peay Will Healy December 4 Hired as head coach by Charlotte Mark Hudspeth
Charleston Southern Mark Tucker December 7 Resigned Autry Denson
Savannah State Erik Raeburn December 7 Fired Shawn Quinn (interim)
Lehigh Andy Coen December 7 Retired Tom Gilmore
North Dakota State Chris Klieman December 10 Hired as head coach by Kansas State Matt Entz[2]
Drake Rick Fox December 10 Resigned Todd Stepsis
North Carolina Central Granville Eastman (interim) December 12 Permanent replacement Trei Oliver
Chattanooga Tom Arth December 14 Hired as head coach by Akron Rusty Wright
Elon Curt Cignetti December 14 Hired as head coach by James Madison Tony Trisciani
Maine Joe Harasymiak December 21 Hired as defensive assistant by Minnesota Nick Charlton
Bucknell Joe Susan January 14 Resigned Dave Cecchini
Central Connecticut Peter Rossomando January 23 Hired as offensive line coach by Rutgers Ryan McCarthy
Valparaiso Dave Cecchini February 6 Hired as head coach by Bucknell Landon Fox
Morgan State Ernest T. Jones (interim) February 7 Permanent replacement Tyrone Wheatley

See also[]

References[]


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