2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season
American college football season
The 2018 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 FCS Championship Game was played on January 5, 2019, in Frisco, Texas . North Dakota State claimed its second consecutive FCS title, and seventh in eight years, defeating Eastern Washington , 38-24.
Notable headlines
June 13 – Major changes to redshirt rules in Division I football (both FBS and FCS) were approved by the NCAA Division I Council. From the 2018 season forward, players could participate in as many as four games in a given season while still retaining redshirt status.[1]
September 15 – Hurricane Florence caused unprecedented disruption to college football schedules. For FCS teams alone, the storm forced the cancellation of six games (Elon at William & Mary , Savannah State at Howard , Tennessee State at Hampton , Presbyterian at Stetson , Walsh (D-II) at Jacksonville , and Colgate at Furman ) and the rescheduling of nine others.[2] [3] [4]
October 27 – Central Connecticut's Aaron Dawson ran for 308 yards in the second half, a record for a half throughout Division I, and 361 yards overall to lead the Blue Devils to a 49–24 win over Wagner .[5]
November 17 – In the final game of his college career, Samford quarterback Devlin Hodges set a new FCS record for career passing yardage, surpassing late Alcorn State and NFL great Steve McNair in the Bulldogs' 38–27 win over East Tennessee State . Hodges finished his career with 14,584 yards.[6]
FCS team wins over FBS teams
(FCS rankings from the STATS poll , FBS rankings from the AP poll .)
August 30: UC Davis 44, San Jose State 38
September 1: No. 18 Nicholls 26, Kansas 23 OT
September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
September 1: No. 19 Villanova 19, Temple 17
September 2: No. 14 North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
September 8: No. 22 Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28
September 22: No. 16 Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19
Conference changes and new programs
Conference standings
Conference summaries
Championship games
Other conference winners
Note: Records are regular-season only, and do not include playoff games.
Playoff qualifiers
Automatic berths for conference champions
At large qualifiers
Abstentions
Postseason
Bowl game
NCAA Division I playoff bracket
Pre-season international exhibitions
Date
Name
Location
NCAA team
Hosting Team
Score
May 26, 2018
Drake-China Ambassadors Bowl
UIBE , Beijing , China
Drake
China All-Stars(AFLC , CAFL , & CBL)
77–0
Kickoff games
One kickoff game was played during "Week Zero" on August 25:
Awards and honors
Walter Payton Award
Buck Buchanan Award
Jerry Rice Award
Coaches
Coaching changes
Preseason and in-season
This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2018. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2018, see 2017 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes .
^ Interim for remainder of season; interim tag removed on November 28, 2018.
End of season
See also
References
^ "DI football to offer more participation opportunities" (Press release). NCAA. June 13, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2018 .
^ Adelson, Andrea. "UNC, NC State, Va. Tech called due to Florence" . ESPN. Retrieved September 12, 2018 .
^ "Football Cancels Game against Stetson" . GoBlueHose.com . Presbyterian College. Retrieved September 13, 2018 .
^ "NCAAF College Football Scores - FCS Week 3" . ESPN. Retrieved September 14, 2018 .
^ "CCSU's Aaron Dawson sets record with 308 rushing yards in a half" . ESPN. October 27, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2018 .
^ "Devlin Hodges notches FCS mark with 14,584 career passing yards" . ESPN. November 17, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
^ "London replaces legend as William & Mary coach" . STATS FCS Football. November 19, 2018.
^ Rittenberg, Adam (December 13, 2018). "North Dakota St. promotes defensive coordinator Matt Entz to head coach" . ESPN.com . Retrieved December 14, 2018 .