The 2020–21 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 regular season and postseason were impacted by the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...

. Several FCS conferences moved their scheduled games from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021, and in August 2020, the NCAA announced that the FCS postseason would also be delayed. While the NCAA at one point announced a cancellation of the FCS playoff, in late September 2020 a revised playoff schedule was announced, with the FCS Championship Game played on May 16, 2021. Sam Houston State defeated South Dakota State for the title, 23-21. Of the 127 programs in FCS for this season, 101 played at least one game in either the fall of 2020 or the spring of 2021. The remaining 26 schools opted not to participate. The

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 ...

was the only FCS conference with no members competing in football in 2020–21.

Notable headlines

* May 19 – The NCAA declared four FCS football programs ineligible for postseason play in 2020 due to failure to meet the required

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(APR) benchmarks:

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, McNeese State, Prairie View A&M, and Stephen F. Austin. * July 8 – The

announced that it would play no sports until January 1, 2021, at the earliest, because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. * July 13 – The

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

announced the cancellation of its fall sports season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * July 16 – The MEAC announced that it would not play sports in the fall. * July 17 – The

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

announced that it would not play fall sports, but that teams still wishing to play football could compete as independents for the 2020 season. Due to the cancellation of the MEAC season,

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announced that the MEAC/SWAC Challenge and

Celebration Bowl The Celebration Bowl is a postseason college football bowl game, first played in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season, 2015 season, contested between the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athlet ...

had both been canceled. * July 19 – The SWAC announced that it had canceled fall sports but became the first conference to commit to playing football in the spring, with the announcement of a seven-game conference schedule preceded by an eight-week training schedule to start in January 2021. * July 27 – The

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I Fo ...

announced that it would play a conference-only schedule in 2020. * July 29 – The

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

announced the postponement of all fall sports. * August 7 – The

canceled its fall football season, with no announcement made with regard to playing in the spring. The

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

became second FCS conference to commit to playing football in the spring of 2021. * August 10 – The

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate A ...

likewise announced that it would play its fall 2020 football season in spring of 2021. * September 22 – After several more conferences decided to play at least a limited spring football schedule, the NCAA announced that the 2020 FCS playoffs would be held in the spring of 2021, with bracket reduced from 24 teams to 16, culminating in the FCS Championship Game to be played on May 16, 2021.

FCS team wins over FBS teams

October 23, 2020: Jacksonville State 19, FIU 10
February 21, 2021: Tarleton State 43,

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

Conference changes and new programs

Conference standings

All teams played spring schedules, except where noted. The Ivy League did not play in either the fall or spring.

Playoff qualifiers

Automatic berths for conference champions

At large qualifiers

Abstentions

– ''None'' *

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

– ''None'' *

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 ...

– Alabama A&M

Postseason

In late September 2020, the NCAA announced that the FCS postseason would take place in April and May 2021. Also announced was a reduction of participating teams from 24 to 16, with 10 automatic qualifiers. The first round of the playoffs was scheduled for April 24, with the Championship Game in mid-May, later set for May 16.

Bowl game

Due to the MEAC cancelling all fall sports for the 2020 season, the MEAC/SWAC

(the one FCS

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

) was canceled.

NCAA Division I playoff bracket

* ''Host institution''

Kickoff game

Saturday, August 29 –

FCS Kickoff The FCS Kickoff is an annual college football game played on the Saturday before the opening weekend of the college football season. The game showcases teams from the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). For the game's first t ...

(

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24, Austin Peay 17.

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

Table only includes coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2020. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2020, see 2019 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.

End of season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 NCAA Division I FCS football season