The 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of

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in the United States, was organized by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) at the Division I

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

(FCS) level. The FCS Championship Game was played on January 5, 2019, in

Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Collin County, Texas, Collin and Denton County, Texas, Denton counties. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex (DFW) and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth In ...

. North Dakota State claimed its second consecutive FCS title, and seventh in eight years, defeating Eastern Washington, 38-24.

Notable headlines

* June 13 – Major changes to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

rules in Division I football (both FBS and FCS) were approved by the NCAA Division I Council. From the 2018 season forward, players could participate in as many as four games in a given season while still retaining redshirt status. * September 15 – Hurricane Florence caused unprecedented disruption to college football schedules. For FCS teams alone, the storm forced the cancellation of six games ( Elon at William & Mary, Savannah State at

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, Tennessee State at Hampton,

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

at Stetson, Walsh (D-II) at Jacksonville, and Colgate at Furman) and the rescheduling of nine others. * 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 yards overall to lead the Blue Devils to a 49–24 win over Wagner. * 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.

FCS team wins over FBS teams

(FCS rankings from the STATS poll, FBS rankings from the AP poll.) August 30:

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

44, San Jose State 38
September 1: No. 18 Nicholls 26,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

23 ^OT
September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
September 1: No. 19 Villanova 19,

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17
September 2: No. 14 North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
September 8: No. 22

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

31, Western Kentucky 28
September 22: No. 16 Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19

Conference changes and new programs

Conference standings

Conference summaries

Championship games

Other conference winners

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

Playoff qualifiers

Automatic berths for conference champions

At large qualifiers

Abstentions

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

– Princeton * Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – North Carolina A&T *

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

– Alcorn State

Postseason

Bowl game

NCAA Division I playoff bracket

Pre-season international exhibitions

Kickoff games

One kickoff game was played during "Week Zero" on August 25: * FCS Kickoff (

Cramton Bowl Cramton Bowl is a 21,000-seat stadium located in Montgomery, Alabama. Cramton Bowl opened in 1922 as a Baseball park, baseball stadium and has been home to Major League Baseball spring training and to minor league baseball. Today, however, its pr ...

, Montgomery): North Carolina A&T defeated Jacksonville State, 20–17

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 Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

** 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

* AFCA Coach of the Year: Joe Harasymiak,

* Eddie Robinson Award: Dan Hawkins,

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.

End of season

References

{{NCAA football season navbox