The 2021 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.
After the prior season was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, resulting in some conferences canceling their seasons and significant rescheduling by other conferences, the 2021 season returned to its traditional fall scheduling. The season ended with a single-elimination tournament, with the championship game held on January 8, 2022 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. North Dakota State won its ninth championship in eleven seasons, defeating Montana State, 38-10, for the title.
Conference changes and new programs The Western Athletic Conference (WAC), which had last played football in the 2012 season as an FBS league, reinstated football for the 2021 season at the FCS level. The ASUN Conference also announced in 2021 that it would sponsor FCS football in the future. Because WAC and ASUN programs reclassifying from Division II could not be counted toward the minimum of six members required for a conference champion to be an automatic qualifier (AQ) for the FCS postseason, the two conferences pooled their seven members with active FCS programs in 2021 (four WAC, three ASUN) to form the WAC–ASUN Challenge, a temporary league also referred to as the AQ7. School 2020-21 conference 2021 conference Abilene Christian Southland WAC–ASUN Challenge (WAC) Bethune–Cookman MEAC SWAC Central Arkansas Southland WAC–ASUN Challenge (ASUN) Dixie State FCS Independent WAC Eastern Kentucky Ohio Valley WAC–ASUN Challenge (ASUN) Florida A&M MEAC SWAC Jacksonville State Ohio Valley WAC–ASUN Challenge (ASUN) Lamar Southland WAC–ASUN Challenge (WAC) North Carolina A&T MEAC Big South Presbyterian FCS independent Pioneer St. Thomas (MN) MIAC (D-III) Pioneer (FCS) Sam Houston State Southland WAC–ASUN Challenge (WAC) Stephen F. Austin Tarleton State FCS Independent WAC
Notable headlines September 4 – In Kevin Kelley's debut as head coach of Presbyterian, Ren Hefley threw for 10 touchdowns in the Blue Hose's 84–43 win over NAIA member St. Andrews, breaking the previous FCS record of 9 first set in 1984 by Willie Totten of Mississippi Valley State and equaled in 2007 by Drew Hubel of Portland State. Blue Hose backup quarterback Tyler Huff added 2 TD passes to set a new Division I team record (for both FCS and FBS) of 12, surpassing the previous record of 11 thrown by David Klingler of Houston against Eastern Washington in 1990. November 12 – The Utah Legislature approved changing the name of FCS member Dixie State University to Utah Tech University, effective in the 2022–23 academic year.
FCS team wins over FBS teams Italics denotes FBS teams.
Conference standings
Playoff qualifiers Automatic berths for conference champions ConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bidResult of last appearanceBig Sky Conference Sacramento State 2nd 2019 Second Round (L – Austin Peay)Big South Conference Kennesaw State 4th 2019 Second Round (L – Weber State)Colonial Athletic Association Villanova 14th 2019 First Round (L – Southeastern Louisiana)Missouri Valley Football Conference North Dakota State 12th 2020 Quarterfinals (L – Sam Houston State)Northeast Conference Sacred Heart 4th 2020 First Round (L – Delaware)Ohio Valley Conference UT Martin 2nd 2006 Second Round (L – Southern Illinois)Patriot League Holy Cross 4th 2020 First Round (L – South Dakota State)Pioneer Football League Davidson 2nd 2020 First Round (L – Jacksonville State)Southern Conference East Tennessee State 3rd 2018 First Round (L – Jacksonville State)Southland Conference Incarnate Word 2nd 2018 First Round (L – Montana State)Western Athletic Conference Sam Houston State 13th 2020 National champions (W – South Dakota State)
At large qualifiers ConferenceTeamAppearanceLast bidResult of last appearance Big Sky Conference Eastern Washington 15th 2020 First Round (L – North Dakota State) Montana 25th 2019 Quarterfinals (L – Weber State) Montana State 11th 2019 Semifinals (L – North Dakota State) UC Davis 2nd 2018 Quarterfinals (L – Eastern Washington)Colonial Athletic Association James Madison 18th 2020 Semifinals (L – Sam Houston State) Missouri Valley Football Conference Missouri State 3rd 2020 First Round (L – North Dakota) Northern Iowa 23rd 2019 Quarterfinals (L – James Madison) South Dakota 2nd 2017 Second Round (L – Sam Houston State) South Dakota State 11th 2020 Championship Game (L – Sam Houston State) Southern Illinois 10th 2020 Quarterfinals (L – South Dakota State)Southland Conference Southeastern Louisiana 4th 2019 Second Round (L – Montana)Southwestern Athletic Conference Florida A&M 8th 2001 First Round (L – Georgia Southern)Western Athletic Conference Stephen F. Austin 8th 2014 First Round (L – Northern Iowa)
Abstentions Ivy League – Dartmouth Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State
Postseason After the prior season's playoffs were reduced to a 16-team bracket, FCS returned to a 24-team bracket for this season: 11 of the teams were decided via automatic bids issued to conference champions (listed above) and 13 teams were determined via at-large bids; the top eight teams were seeded.
Bowl game DateGameSiteTelevisionParticipantsAffiliationsResultsReferencesDec. 18Celebration BowlMercedes-Benz StadiumAtlanta, Georgia12:00 pmABCSouth Carolina State Bulldogs (6–5)Jackson State Tigers (11–1)MEACSWACSouth Carolina State 31Jackson State 10
NCAA Division I playoff bracket
Source:
Rankings
The top 25 from the Stats Perform and USA Today Coaches Polls.
Pre-season polls Stats PerformRankingTeam 1 Sam Houston State (39) 2 James Madison (8) 3 South Dakota State (4) 4 North Dakota State 5 Delaware 6 Weber State 7 Southern Illinois 8 North Dakota 9 Montana 10 Jacksonville State 11 Eastern Washington 12 Montana State 13 Monmouth 14 Central Arkansas 15 Southeastern Louisiana 16 Villanova 17 VMI 18 Chattanooga 19 Kennesaw State 20 Austin Peay 21 Northern Iowa 22 Nicholls 23 UC Davis 24 Missouri State 25 North Carolina A&T USA Today CoachesRankingTeam 1Sam Houston State (18) 2James Madison (9) 3North Dakota State 4South Dakota State (1) 5Delaware 6Weber State 7North Dakota 8Jacksonville State 9Montana 10Southern Illinois 11Montana State 12Monmouth 13Central Arkansas 14Eastern Washington 15Villanova 16Northern Iowa 17Southeastern Louisiana 18 Chattanooga 19 VMI 20Kennesaw State 21UC Davis 22Richmond 23Nicholls 24North Carolina A&T 25Austin Peay
Final rankings RankStats PerformCoaches' Poll 1 North Dakota State (14–1) (50) North Dakota State (14–1) (24) 2 Montana State (12–3) Montana State (12–3) 3 James Madison (12–2) James Madison (12–2) 4 South Dakota State (11–4) Sam Houston State (11–1) 5 Sam Houston State (11–1) South Dakota State (11–4) 6 Montana (10–3) Montana (10–3) 7 Eastern Washington (10–3) East Tennessee State (11–2) 8 Villanova (10–3) Villanova (10–3) 9 East Tennessee State (11–2) Eastern Washington (10–3) 10 Sacramento State (9–3) Kennesaw State (11–2) 11 Kennesaw State (11–2) Sacramento State (9–3) 12 Incarnate Word (10–3) UT Martin (10–3) 13 UT Martin (10–3) Incarnate Word (10–3) 14 Missouri State (8–4) Missouri State (8–4) 15 Southeastern Louisiana (9–4) Southeastern Louisiana (9–4) 16 Southern Illinois (8–5) UC Davis (8–4) 17 UC Davis (8–4) Southern Illinois (8–5) 18 South Dakota (7–5) Stephen F. Austin (8–4) 19 Holy Cross (10–3) Jackson State (11–2) 20 Dartmouth (9–1) South Dakota (7–5) 21 Stephen F. Austin (8–4) Princeton (9–1) 22 Jackson State (11–2) Holy Cross (10–3) 23 Northern Iowa (6–6) Dartmouth (9–1) 24 Princeton (9–1) Florida A&M (9–3) 25 Florida A&M (9–3) Northern Iowa (6–6)
Kickoff games The regular season began with three games on Saturday, August 28: Indiana State 26, Eastern Illinois 21 MEAC/SWAC Challenge at Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta: North Carolina Central 23, Alcorn State 14 San Jose State (FBS) 45, Southern Utah 14
Regular season top 10 matchups Rankings reflect the Stats Perform Poll. Week 3 No. 3 James Madison defeated No. 9 Weber State, 37–24 (Stewart Stadium, Ogden, Utah) Week 5 No. 6 Eastern Washington defeated No. 4 Montana, 30–24 (Roos Field, Cheney, Washington) No. 5 North Dakota State defeated No. 10 North Dakota, 16–10 (Alerus Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota) Week 6 No. 8 Southern Illinois defeated No. 2 South Dakota State, 42–41 OT (Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, South Dakota) Week 10 No. 4 Montana State defeated No. 5 Eastern Washington, 23–20 (Roos Field, Cheney, Washington) No. 9 South Dakota State defeated No. 2 North Dakota State, 27–19 (Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, South Dakota) Week 11 No. 7 Eastern Washington defeated No. 6 UC Davis, 38–20 (UC Davis Health Stadium, Davis, California) Week 12 No. 6 Montana defeated No. 3 Montana State, 29–10 (Washington–Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Montana)
Upsets This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating ranked teams during the season.
Regular season During the regular season, 33 unranked teams have defeated a ranked team.
September 4, 2021: Furman 29, No. 25 North Carolina A&T 18 September 11, 2021: Merrimack 35, No. 24 Holy Cross 21 September 25, 2021 Holy Cross 45, No. 20 Monmouth 15 Eastern Kentucky 35, No. 19 Austin Peay 27 UT Martin 34, No. 9 Jacksonville State 31 October 2, 2021 Elon 20, No. 22 Richmond 7 The Citadel 35, No. 18 VMI 24 October 9, 2021 Idaho State 27, No. 7 UC Davis 17 South Dakota 20, No. 13 North Dakota 13 Youngstown State 41, No. 16 Missouri State 33 October 16, 2021 Dartmouth 38, No. 23 New Hampshire 21 Chattanooga 21, No. 10 East Tennessee State 16 Sacramento State 28, No. 5 Montana 27 Stony Brook 34, No. 14 Delaware 17 Towson 28, No. 12 Rhode Island 7 October 22, 2021 Columbia 19, No. 25 Dartmouth 0 October 23, 2021 Weber State 35, No. 2 Eastern Washington 34 Illinois State 20, No. 15 South Dakota 14 McNeese State 28, No. 16 Incarnate Word 20 October 30, 2021 William & Mary 31, No. 4 Villanova 18 Maine 45, No. 24 Rhode Island 24 November 5, 2021 Dartmouth 31, No. 20т Princeton 7 November 6, 2021 Portland State 30, No. 24 Weber State 18 Delaware 24, No. 20т William & Mary 3 Illinois State 17, No. 13 Northern Iowa 10 OT Stephen F. Austin 31, No. 25 Eastern Kentucky 17 November 13, 2021 Alcorn State 31, No. 24 Prairie View A&M 29 Furman 37, No. 21 VMI 31 Mercer 10, No. 22т Chattanooga 6 November 20, 2021 Southeast Missouri State 31, No. 13 UT Martin 14 Nicholls 45, No. 15 Southeastern Louisiana 42 Youngstown State 35, No. 17 Southern Illinois 18 Elon 43, No. 25 Rhode Island 28
Coaching changes Preseason and in-season This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2021. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2021, see 2020 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.
TeamOutgoing coachDateReasonReplacement Stetson Roger Hughes May 7, 2021 Resigned Brian Young Colgate May 17, 2021 Resigned LIU June 29, 2021 Resigned (interim) Alabama State November 1, 2021 Fired (interim) Jacksonville State November 6, 2021 Resigned (interim) Grambling State November 15, 2021 Fired (interim)
End of season