2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season
The 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, is organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The regular season began on August 26 and will end in November. The postseason will begin in November, and, aside from any all-star games that are scheduled, will end on January 6, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.[1]
2023 NCAA Division I FCS season | |
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Regular season | |
Number of teams | 128 |
Duration | August 26 – December 2 |
Playoff | |
Duration | November 25 – December 16 |
Championship date | 2024 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game |
Championship site | Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas |
NCAA Division I FCS football seasons | |
«2022 |
Conference changes and new programs
Membership changes for 2023
In addition to the listed membership changes, on February 22, 2022, the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) announced that they would merge their football leagues effective in 2023.[2] The merged entity was later unveiled as the Big South–OVC Football Association.
On December 20, 2022, the ASUN Conference and Western Athletic Conference (WAC), which had entered into a football-only partnership in 2021, announced that they would fully merge their football leagues effective in 2023. The new conference, known as the United Athletic Conference (UAC),[3] features ASUN members Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and North Alabama, plus WAC members Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton, and Utah Tech. The new football conference is playing a six-game conference schedule in 2023; it planned to start round-robin play in 2024, but that became less likely with the 2024 addition of West Georgia.[4]
On May 12, 2023, the OVC announced that Western Illinois would become a full member of the conference in 2023, with football playing the 2023 season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference before joining the Big South–OVC alliance in 2024.[5]
Rule changes
Other headlines
- July 20 – The Colonial Athletic Association, operator of the technically separate FCS conference branded as CAA Football, announced that effective immediately the league would be rebranded as the Coastal Athletic Association.[6] The multi-sports CAA, which had its roots in the ECAC South basketball conference of the early 1980s, had been known as the Colonial Athletic Association from its first season as a multi-sports conference in 1985–86 through 2022–23. Accordingly, the "Colonial" name was applied to the football conference once the multi-sports CAA took over the former Atlantic 10 football conference in the 2007 season.[7][6] The CAA changed its name (but intentionally kept its well-known shorthand, "CAA") to accommodate future membership expansion outside of the Thirteen Colonies.[6] Specific to football, however, it will be officially recognized as the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference but continue to be referred to as the CAA Football Conference.[6] The Colonial Athletic Association's football records are recognized as part of the Coastal's history.[6]
- August 10 – CAA Football announced that Bryant would join from the Big South–OVC in 2024. This is a football-only move; Bryant will remain a member of the non-football America East Conference.[8]
- September 9 — The ASUN announced that West Georgia would start a transition from Division II in 2024 as that conference's newest member, with the football team joining the UAC at the same time.[9]
- October 4 – The NCAA announced several major changes to Division I football recruiting and governance rules:[10]
- 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—has been 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 campus.[11]
Kickoff games
"Week Zero"
The regular season began on Saturday, August 26 with three games in Week 0.
- FCS Kickoff (Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Alabama): No. 20 Mercer 17, North Alabama 7
- Albany 34, Fordham 13
- MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Center Parc Stadium, Atlanta): Jackson State 37, South Carolina State 7
FCS team wins over FBS teams
- September 9, 2023
- Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 11
- Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
- Idaho 33, Nevada 6
- September 16, 2023
- Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23
Non-DI team wins over FCS teams
- September 2, 2023:
- Bowie State (D-II) 22, Delaware State 11
- Virginia State (D-II) 33, Norfolk State 24
- Central State (OH) (D-II) 24, Mississippi Valley State 21
- September 9, 2023:
- Colorado Mesa (D-II) 28, San Diego 21 OT
- Miles (D-II) 21, Alabama State 17
- Indiana Wesleyan (NAIA) 24, Valparaiso 22
- Northwestern (IA) (NAIA) 27, Drake 24 OT
- September 16, 2023:
- Delta State (D-II) 35, Mississippi Valley State 7
Upsets
This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating ranked teams during the season.
Regular season
During the regular season, 22 unranked teams have defeated ranked teams.
- September 2, 2023
- Morgan State 17, No. 18 Richmond 10
- September 9, 2023
- Western Carolina 30, No. 8 Samford 7
- September 16, 2023
- Eastern Washington 40, No. 19 Southeastern Louisiana 29
- September 23, 2023
- Northern Arizona 28, No. 13 Montana 14
- Eastern Kentucky 41, No. 16 Southeast Missouri State 38
- Chattanooga 47, No. 20 Samford 24
- Eastern Washington 27, No. 15 UC Davis 24
- September 30, 2023
- South Dakota 24, No. 2 North Dakota State 19
- Elon 14, No. 5 William & Mary 6
- Harvard 38, No. 6 Holy Cross 28
- Towson 54, No. 14 New Hampshire 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 Southern Illinois 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 21, No. 18 Harvard 14
- Northern Iowa 27, No. 11 North Dakota 0
- Lafayette 38, No. 15 Holy Cross 35
Top 10 matchups
Rankings reflect the STATS Poll.
Regular season
- Week 2
- No. 1 South Dakota State defeated No. 3 Montana State, 20–16 (Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, SD)
- Week 4
- No. 7 Idaho defeated No. 4 Sacramento State, 36–27 (Kibbie Dome, Moscow, ID)
- No. 3 Montana State defeated No. 10 Weber State, 40–0 (Stewart Stadium, Ogden, UT)
- Week 7
- No. 10 Montana 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)
- No. 4 Furman defeated No. 8 Western Carolina, 29–17 (Bob Waters Field at E. J. Whitmire Stadium, Cullowhee, NC)
- Week 9
- No. 1 South Dakota State at No. 4 South Dakota (DakotaDome, Vermillion, SD)
- No. 2 Montana State at No. 9 Idaho (Kibbie Dome, Moscow, ID)
Rankings
The top 25 from the STATS and USA Today Coaches Polls.
Pre-season polls
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Conference standings
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Postseason
Teams
Automatic bids
At-large bids | |||||||
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School | Conference | Record | Appearance | Last | |||
At-large bids
At-large bids | |||||||
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School | Conference | Record | Appearance | Last | |||
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.
School | Outgoing coach | Date | Reason | Replacement |
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Columbia | Al Bagnoli | August 4, 2023 | Retired[12] | Mark Fabish (interim) |
Dartmouth | Buddy Teevens | September 19, 2023 | Died[13] | Sammy McCorkle (named full time on October 19) |
End of season
This list includes coaching changes announced during the season that did not take effect until the end of the season.
School | Outgoing coach | Date | Reason | Replacement | Previous position |
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South Carolina State | Oliver Pough | August 24, 2023 | Retired (effective at season's end)[14] |
See also
References
- "FCS Championship: Future dates and sites". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
- "Big South Conference and OVC Announce Football Agreement; Unique Association to Benefit All Football Members" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 22, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
- "ASUN-WAC Football Partnership Formally Rebrands As The United Athletic Conference" (Press release). ASUN Conference. April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- "ASUN And WAC Unveil 2023 Football Schedule" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- "Western Illinois University to Join the OVC in 2023-24" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- Washburn, Rob (July 20, 2023). "CAA Changes Official Conference Name To Coastal Athletic Association". CAAsports.com. Coastal Athletic Association. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
The name change will carry over to the league's football conference, which will be officially recognized as the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference but continue to be referred to as the CAA Football Conference.
- "The CAA & CAA Football". Coastal Athletic Association. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
- "CAA Football Welcomes Bryant University As Its Newest Member In 2024" (Press release). CAA Football. August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
- "Atlantic Sun Conference Welcomes the University of West Georgia as Its Newest Member" (Press release). ASUN Conference. September 9, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
- "DI Council approves changes to notification-of-transfer windows" (Press release). NCAA. October 4, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- "Northwestern State's Ronnie Caldwell dies in shooting". ESPN.com. October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
- "Al Bagnoli Announces Retirement from Coaching" (Press release). Columbia Lions. August 4, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
- "Dartmouth Announces Death of Buddy Teevens '79" (Press release). Dartmouth College. September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- Watson, Sam (August 24, 2023). "SC State's head football coach Buddy Pough to retire after 2023 season" (Press release). South Carolina State Bulldogs. Retrieved August 25, 2023.