The 2014 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 season began on August 23, 2014, and concluded with the 2015 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game played on January 10, 2015, 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 ...

. North Dakota State won its fourth consecutive title, defeating Illinois State, 29–27.

Notable changes

Under a standard provision of NCAA rules, all FCS programs were allowed to play 12 regular-season games (not counting conference title games) in 2014. In years when the period starting with the Thursday before

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

and ending with the final Saturday in November contains 14 Saturdays, FCS programs may play 12 games instead of the regular 11. After this season, the next season in which 12-game seasons are allowed was 2019. On May 14, 2014, the NCAA announced its

Academic Progress Rate The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a measure introduced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the nonprofit association that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, to ...

(APR) sanctions for the 2014–15 school year. The acceptable minimum score was raised significantly for the first time since the APR was introduced, in 2004. A total of 36 programs in 11 sports were declared ineligible for postseason play after failing to meet the required APR benchmark, including the following seven FCS teams: Alabama State, Arkansas–Pine Bluff, Florida A&M, Mississippi Valley State, Prairie View A&M, Saint Francis (PA), and Savannah State.In addition these, the entire athletic program at

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

, including the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

, was declared ineligible for postseason play for failing to supply usable academic data to the NCAA.

FCS team wins over FBS teams

(FCS rankings from the Sports Network poll; FBS rankings from the AP Poll) August 30: No. 22 Bethune-Cookman 14, Florida International 12
August 30: No. 2 North Dakota State 34, Iowa State 14
September 6:

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 ...

17, Miami (OH) 10
September 13: Abilene Christian 38,

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

35
September 13: Indiana State 27, Ball State 20—The Victory Bell Game
September 20:

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Johnson and Alexandria. It is a part of the Un ...

30,

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

27
September 27:

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 ...

49,

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

43 ^OT
October 11:

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

55, Appalachian State 48 ^OT

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.

FCS results by conference against FBS opponents

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 ...

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 ...

–

Alcorn State Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. T ...

Postseason

NCAA Division I playoff bracket

* ''Home team''
Winner
All times in

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( UTC−05:00)

Preseason bowl game

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2014. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2014, see 2013 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.

End of season

References

{{2014–15 NCAA Division I championships navbox