The 2024 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. The regular season began on August 24 and ended in November. The postseason began in November and, aside from any scheduled all-star games, ended on January 6, 2025 with the 2025 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Due to the structure of the calendar in 2024, FCS teams were allowed to play 12 regular-season games instead of the usual 11.
Conference changes and new programs School 2023 conference 2024 conference Bryant Big South–OVC CAA Kennesaw State FCS Independent CUSA (FBS) Mercyhurst PSAC (D-II) NEC Merrimack NEC FCS Independent Robert Morris Big South–OVC NEC Sacred Heart NEC FCS Independent Stephen F. Austin UAC Southland West Georgia Gulf South (D-II) UAC Western Illinois MVFC Big South–OVC
Notable headlines April 19 - The NCAA approved numerous technology rules such as teams having the option of using tablets to view in-game video for the 2024 season. Seven of the final eight playoff teams leveraged GameStrat's in-game video technology.Numerous conferences such as the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), Big Sky Conference, United Athletic Conference, Patriot League, Southwestern Athletic Conference and the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference partnered with a company called GameStrat for their teams to utilize in-game video technology. April 25 – The NCAA approved an increase in the number of seeded teams in the FCS playoff bracket from 8 to 16, effective for the 2024 season. The number of qualifying teams and the bracket format will remain otherwise unchanged. May 29 – Stephen F. Austin announced it would leave the United Athletic Conference (UAC) on July 1 to rejoin the Southland Conference (SLC) after a three-year absence. August 27: The oversight committees for FBS and FCS recommended that the transfer portal be open only for a 30-day period, starting on the Monday after conference championship games. This did not affect the previously existing exceptions for participants in postseason games, which allows players to enter the portal within a 5-day window after their team's final game, or players undergoing a coaching change. The Division I Council voted on the change in October. Both oversight committees also approved a change to redshirt rules. Effective immediately, the participation limit of four games for redshirting players no longer includes postseason games. Relevant to FCS, this includes the SWAC championship game, the Celebration Bowl, and FCS playoff games. October 9: The NCAA Division I Council approved the recommended reduction of the FBS and FCS transfer portal to 30 days, though with a different schedule than recommended. The fall window, which opens on the Monday after the FBS conference championship games, will be open only for 20 days. A 10-day spring portal will open in mid-April. The council also abolished the National Letter of Intent program effective immediately. Written offers of athletics aid replaced the NLI. The council introduced a proposal that would shorten the transition periods for schools wishing to reclassify from Division II or Division III to Division I. The council would approve this proposal at its January 2025 meeting, thereby reducing the transition periods for D-II and D-III schools by a year, respectively to three and four years. November 7 – Texas A&M University–Commerce announced a name change to East Texas A&M University, effective immediately. December 18 - The Ivy League announced starting in the 2025 season, the league champion would participate in the NCAA Division I Championship.
Kickoff games The regular season began on Saturday, August 24 with four games in Week 0:
Conference standings
Playoff qualifiers Automatic berths for conference champions ConferenceTeam RecordAppearanceLast bidResult of last appearance Big Sky Conference Montana State 12–0 (8–0) 14th 2023 Lost to North Dakota State in second round Big South–OVC Southeast Missouri State 9–3 (6–2) 5th 2022 Lost to Montana in first round CAA Football Richmond 10–2 (8–0) 14th 2023 Lost to Albany in second round Missouri Valley Football Conference South Dakota State 10–2 (7–1) 14th 2023 Won National Championship against Montana Northeast Conference Central Connecticut 7–5 (5–1) 3rd 2019 Lost to Albany in first round Patriot League Lehigh 8–3 (5–1) 12th 2017 Lost to Stony Brook in first round Pioneer Football League Drake 8–2 (7–1) 2nd 2023 Lost to North Dakota State in first round Southern Conference Mercer 10–2 (7–1) 2nd 2023 Lost to South Dakota State in second round Southland Conference Incarnate Word 10–2 (7–0) 4th 2022 Lost to North Dakota State in semifinal United Athletic Conference Abilene Christian 8–4 (7–1) 1st N/A N/A
At-large qualifiers ConferenceTeam RecordAppearanceLast bidResult of last appearanceBig Sky Conference Idaho 9–3 (6–2) 14th 2023 Lost to Albany in quarterfinalsUC Davis 10–2 (7–1) 3rd 2021 Lost to South Dakota State in first roundMontana 8–4 (5–3) 29th 2023 Lost to South Dakota State in National ChampionshipNorthern Arizona 8–4 (6–2) 7th 2017 Lost to San Diego in first roundBig South–OVC UT Martin 8–4 (6–2) 3rd 2021 Lost to Montana State in second roundTennessee State 9–3 (6–2) 7th 2013 Lost to Eastern Illinois in second roundCAA Football New Hampshire 8–4 (6–2) 18th 2022 Lost to Holy Cross in second roundVillanova 9–3 (6–2) 16th 2023 Lost to South Dakota State in quarterfinalsRhode Island 10–2 (7–1) 4th 1985 Lost to Furman in quarterfinalsMissouri Valley Football Conference North Dakota State 10–2 (7–1) 15th 2023 Lost to Montana in semifinalSouth Dakota 9–2 (7–1) 4th 2023 Lost to North Dakota State in quarterfinalsIllinois State 9–3 (6–2) 9th 2019 Lost to North Dakota State in quarterfinalsUnited Athletic Conference Tarleton State 9–3 (6–2) 1st N/A N/AEastern Kentucky 8–4 (6–2) 22nd 2022 Lost to Gardner–Webb in second round
Abstentions Ivy League – Harvard Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State
Postseason The FCS again features a 24-team postseason bracket: 10 teams decided via automatic bids issued to conference champions, and 14 at-large bids (see above). Where previously the top eight teams were seeded, the top 16 teams were seeded this year, a change from the 2023 season.
Bowl game
NCAA Division I playoff bracket
Hosted despite being the unseeded team (Illinois State unable to host due to facilities conflicts) Source:
Rankings
The top 25 from the Stats Perform and AFCA Coaches Polls.
Pre-season polls Stats PerformRankingTeam 1 South Dakota State (52) 2 North Dakota State (3) 3 Montana 4 Montana State (1) 5 South Dakota 6 Villanova 7 Idaho 8 Sacramento State 9 Chattanooga 10 Southern Illinois 11 Central Arkansas 12 Furman 13 Richmond 14 Incarnate Word 15 William & Mary 16 Albany 17 Lafayette 18 UC Davis 19 Illinois State 20 Western Carolina 21 Tarleton State 22 Weber State 23 Nicholls 24 North Dakota 25 Youngstown State AFCA CoachesRankingTeam 1 South Dakota State (25) 2 North Dakota State 3 Montana 4 Montana State 5 South Dakota 6 Villanova 7 Idaho 8 Chattanooga 9 Furman 10 Sacramento State 11 Southern Illinois 12 Richmond 13 Central Arkansas 14 Albany 15 Incarnate Word 16 William & Mary 17 UC Davis 18 Lafayette 19 Western Carolina 20 Illinois State 21 Tarleton State 22 North Dakota 23 Youngstown State 24 Nicholls 25 Florida A&M (1) STATS source: AFCA source:
Final rankings Stats PerformRankingTeam 1 North Dakota State (56) 2 Montana State 3 South Dakota State 4 South Dakota 5 UC Davis 6 Incarnate Word 7 Idaho 8 Mercer 9 Rhode Island 10 Montana 11 Illinois State 12 Villanova 13 Tarleton State 14 Abilene Christian 15 Richmond 16 Southeast Missouri State 17 UT Martin 18 Jackson State 19 Tennessee State 20 Lehigh 21 Eastern Kentucky 22 Northern Arizona 23 New Hampshire 24 South Carolina State 25 Harvard AFCA CoachesRankingTeam 1 North Dakota State (16) 2 Montana State 3 South Dakota State 4 South Dakota 5 UC Davis 6 Incarnate Word 7 Mercer 8 Idaho 9 Villanova 10 Illinois State 11 Rhode Island 12 Tarleton State 13 Montana 14 Abilene Christian 15 Jackson State 16 Richmond 17 Southeast Missouri State 18 UT Martin 19 Tennessee State 20 South Carolina State 21 Lehigh 22 Northern Arizona 23 Missouri State 24 New Hampshire 25 Eastern Kentucky STATS source: AFCA source:
Top 10 matchups Regular season matchups Rankings reflect the STATS Perform poll.
Postseason matchups This section lists matchups between top-ten ranked teams during the postseason tournament. A team's seeding may differ from its ranking and it is indicated in parentheses.
Upsets This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating STATS poll-ranked teams during the season.
Regular season During the regular season, thirty-four unranked teams defeated ranked teams.
Postseason upsets This section lists unseeded teams defeating seeded teams during the playoffs. Seed rankings appears in parentheses.
FCS team wins over FBS teams Italics denotes FBS teams.
Coaching changes Preseason and in-season This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2024, 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 2024, see 2023 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.
School Outgoing coach Date Reason Replacement
End of season This list includes coaching changes announced during the season that did not take effect until the end of the season.