The 2021 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game was a postseason

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

game played to determine a national champion in the

NCAA 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 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate ...

for the 2020–21 season. It was played at Toyota Stadium 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 ...

, on May 16, 2021. It was the culminating game of the 2020–21 FCS Playoffs. The

Sam Houston State Bearkats The Sam Houston Bearkats are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston's colors are orange and white. Sam Houston sports teams participate in NCAA Division I (Foo ...

defeated the

South Dakota State Jackrabbits The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are the 19 intercollegiate teams representing South Dakota State University that compete in the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I (for football: Football Championship Subdivision). Sout ...

, 23–21.

Background

The regular season and postseason schedules for the

(FCS) were both impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...

. Multiple FCS conferences moved their scheduled games from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021, and in August 2020, the NCAA announced that the FCS postseason would also be delayed. While the NCAA at one point announced a cancellation of the FCS playoff, in late September a revised playoff schedule was announced, with the Championship Game to be played in mid-May 2021. The date of the Championship Game was later set for May 16. The 2021 Championship Game matched the final two teams from a 16-team playoff

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

, reduced from the normal 24-team bracket. The playoffs began with a first round on April 24, followed by quarterfinals on May 1, and then semi-finals on May 8.

Teams

The participants of the 2021 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game were the finalists of the 2020 FCS Playoffs—South Dakota State and Sam Houston State—which began with a 16-team

. Neither program had previously won a Division I Football Championship Game. Sam Houston State head coach K. C. Keeler was head coach of the champion 2003 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team.

South Dakota State Jackrabbits

The Jackrabbits entered the game in Frisco with an 8–1 record. This was their first appearance in the championship game. SDSU was the top seed in the playoffs and defeated Holy Cross,

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

, and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

at home.

Sam Houston State Bearkats

The Bearkats entered the game in Frisco with an 9–0 record. This was their third appearance in the championship game, having lost both of their prior appearances, in January 2012 and January 2013. SHSU was the second seed in the playoffs and defeated

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

, defending champion

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...

, and

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

at home.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com
Sam Houston vs. South Dakota State: 2020* FCS championship highlights
from NCAA via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game

Championship Game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

NCAA Division I Football Championship Games Sam Houston Bearkats football games South Dakota State Jackrabbits football games American football competitions in Frisco, Texas NCAA Division I Football Championship Game NCAA Division I Football Championship Game NCAA Division I Football Championship Game