The 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of

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 ...

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 regular season began on August 26 and ended in November. The postseason began in November and ended on January 7, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game 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 ...

. South Dakota State repeated as champions, defeating

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 ...

, 23–3.

Notable headlines

* October 4 – The NCAA announced several major changes to Division I football recruiting and governance rules: ** The window for athletes to enter the transfer portal was reduced. For FCS players, the portal now opens on the Monday after the selection of the playoff field, and stays open for 30 days. For players participating in the FCS playoffs or the Celebration Bowl, there will be an additional 5-day window after the players' final game. ** The limit on "initial counters"—i.e., players who are receiving athletically-related financial aid for the first time—was permanently eliminated. The previous FCS limit of 30 had been suspended due to COVID-19 impacts. ** The application fee for transitioning from FCS to FBS increased from $5,000 to $5 million, effective immediately. * October 12 – Northwestern State junior safety Ronnie Caldwell died after being shot multiple times near the school's

Natchitoches, Louisiana Natchitoches ( ; , ), officially the City of Natchitoches, is a small city in, and the parish seat of, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. At the 2020 United States census, the city's population was ...

campus. Two weeks after the shooting, Northwestern State canceled the remainder of its season, and head coach Brad Laird resigned.

FCS team wins over FBS teams

September 9:

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 ...

14,

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

11
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 9:

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

33,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

6
September 16: Sacramento State 30,

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

Conference changes and new programs

* The

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

(ASUN) and

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

, which had created the WAC-ASUN Challenge in 2021, merged their football leagues effective in 2023. In April 2023, the partnership was formally rebranded as the

United Athletic Conference The United Athletic Conference (UAC), also known as The United, is an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) intercollegiate athletic conference. The conference is a merger of the existing football leagues of the Atlantic Sun Con ...

(UAC), a football-only league separate from the two conferences. The NCAA denied the UAC's request to be classified as a single-sport FCS football conference, but continued to recognize the organization as an extension of the WAC-ASUN Challenge. * The

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

and

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

also merged their football leagues effective in 2023, but without attempting to create a new independent league, instead adopting the name Big South–OVC Football Association. Like the ASUN and WAC, both conferences were in danger of falling below the minimum six members required to remain an automatic qualifier (AQ) for the FCS postseason. * The Colonial Athletic Association, along with its (technically-separate) FCS football league, adopted the name

Coastal Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

, a change that did not affect the CAA branding.

Conference standings

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 ...

–

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

–

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

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 ...

– Florida A&M

Postseason

The FCS again featured a 24-team postseason bracket: 10 teams decided via automatic bids issued to conference champions, and 14

at-large bids At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

(see above). The top eight teams were seeded and received a bye to the second round.

Bowl game

NCAA Division I playoff bracket

Source:

Rankings

The top 25 from the Stats Perform and USA Today Coaches Polls.

Pre-season polls

Kickoff games

The regular season began on Saturday, August 26 with three games in Week 0: *

FCS Kickoff The FCS Kickoff is an annual college football game played on the Saturday before the opening weekend of the college football season. The game showcases teams from the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). For the game's first t ...

(

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, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

): No. 20 Mercer 17, North Alabama 7 * Albany 34, Fordham 13 * MEAC/SWAC Challenge (

Center Parc Stadium Center Parc Stadium (also commonly referred to as Georgia State University or GSU Stadium) is an outdoor stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium is the home of the Georgia State Panthers football team as of the 2017 season, replacing the Geor ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

): Jackson State 37, South Carolina State 7

Regular season top 10 matchups

Rankings reflect the Stats Perform Poll. *Week 2 ** No. 1 South Dakota State defeated No. 3 Montana State, 20–16 ( Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, SD) *Week 4 ** No. 7

defeated No. 4 Sacramento State, 36–27 (

Kibbie Dome The P1FCU Kibbie Dome, known simply as the Kibbie Dome and formerly named the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center, is a multi-purpose indoor athletic stadium on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. It is the home of the Idaho Van ...

, Moscow, ID) ** No. 3 Montana State defeated No. 10 Weber State, 40–0 (

Stewart Stadium Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart Stadium is an outdoor multi-purpose stadium in the Western United States, located on the campus of Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Originally Wildcat Stadium, it was renamed in 1998 for Stewart (1905–1996), a ...

Ogden, UT Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

) *Week 7 **No. 10

defeated No. 3 Idaho, 23–21 (Kibbie Dome, Moscow, ID) *Week 8 ** No. 2 Montana State defeated No. 3 Sacramento State, 42–30 ( Hornet Stadium,

Sacramento, CA Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

) ** No. 4 Furman defeated No. 8 Western Carolina, 29–17 ( Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium,

Cullowhee, NC Cullowhee (
, from the North Carolina Collection website at the

) *Week 9 **No. 1 South Dakota State defeated No. 4

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, 37–3 (

DakotaDome The DakotaDome is an indoor multi-purpose stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. Opened in 1979 at a cost of $8.2 million, the 9,100-seat venue is ...

Vermillion, SD Vermillion (; "The Place Where Vermilion is Obtained") is a city and the county seat of Clay County. It is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, United States, and is the state's 12th-most populous city. According to the 2020 census, the ...

) **No. 9 Idaho defeated No. 2 Montana State, 24–21 (Kibbie Dome, Moscow, ID) *Week 10 **No. 4 Montana defeated No. 7 Sacramento State, 34–7 (

Washington–Grizzly Stadium Washington–Grizzly Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Opened in 1986, it is home to the Montana Grizzlies, a member of the Big ...

, Missoula, MT) **No. 9 South Dakota defeated No. 10

, 14–7 (

Saluki Stadium Saluki Stadium is a stadium on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. It is primarily utilized by the Southern Illinois Salukis football team. History Saluki Stadium was ...

Carbondale, IL Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,083, making it the most populous city in Southern Il ...

) *Week 11 ** No. 6 South Dakota defeated No. 10

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, 14–10 (DakotaDome, Vermillion, SD) *Week 12 ** No. 3 Montana defeated No. 4 Montana State, 37–7 (Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, MT) ** No. 10 Villanova defeated No. 7

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 ...

, 35–7 (

Delaware Stadium Delaware Stadium is an 18,500-seat stadium in Newark, Delaware, and is home to the University of Delaware Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens, Fightin' Blue Hens Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football, football and Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens men's lacross ...

, Newark, DE)

Upsets

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

Regular season

During the regular season, 33 unranked teams defeated ranked teams. * September 2, 2023 ** Morgan State 17, No. 18

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

10 * September 9, 2023 ** Western Carolina 30, No. 8 Samford 7 * September 16, 2023 **

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

40, No. 19 Southeastern Louisiana 29 * September 23, 2023 **

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the ...

28, No. 13

14 **

Eastern Kentucky Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

41, No. 16 Southeast Missouri State 38 **

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

47, No. 20 Samford 24 ** Eastern Washington 27, No. 15

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 ...

24 * September 30, 2023 **

24, No. 2 North Dakota State 19 ** Elon 14, No. 5 William & Mary 6 **

38, No. 6 Holy Cross 28 **

Towson Towson () is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is t ...

54, No. 14

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

51 ** Albany 31, No. 16 Villanova 10 ** Northern Iowa 44, No. 23 Youngstown State 41 * October 7, 2023 ** Northern Arizona 27, No. 13 Weber State 10 ** Youngstown State 31, No. 6

3 * October 14, 2023 ** Idaho State 42, No. 21 Eastern Washington 41 ** UC Davis 17, No. 22 Weber State 16 ** New Hampshire 38, No. 24 Albany 31 * October 21, 2023 ** Towson 34, No. 13 William & Mary 24 **

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

21, No. 18 Harvard 14 ** Northern Iowa 27, No. 11

0 ** Lafayette 38, No. 15 Holy Cross 35 * October 28, 2023 ** Mercer 45, No. 10 Western Carolina 38 ** Gardner–Webb 38, No. 14 UT Martin 34 ** Tarleton State 25, No, 18

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state ...

23 ** Northern Arizona 38, No. 25 UC Davis 21 * November 4, 2023 ** Elon 33, No. 5

27 ** Colgate 37, No. 20 Lafayette 34 ^OT ** Nicholls 45, No. 8 Incarnate Word 32 * November 11, 2023 ** Weber State 31, No. 4

29 **

50, No. 7 North Carolina Central 20 ** Missouri State 35, No. 15 Northern Iowa 16 * November 18, 2023 ** UC Davis 31, No. 8 Sacramento State 21 ** Samford 27, No. 19 UT Martin 17 **

23, No. 23 Harvard 18 ** Wofford 19, No. 2 Furman 13 ** VMI 27, No. 14 Western Carolina 24

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2023, 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 2023, see 2022 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.

Attendances

The top 30 NCAA Division I FCS football teams by average home attendance:

References

{{NCAA football season navbox