2017_NCAA_Division_I_FCS_football_season

2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season

American college football season

The 2017 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 6, 2018, in Frisco, Texas. The North Dakota State Bison beat the James Madison Dukes, 17–13, to capture their sixth title in seven years.

Quick Facts Regular season, Number of teams ...

2017 NCAA Division I FCS season

Regular season
Number of teams	124
Duration	August 26 – November 18
Payton Award	Jeremiah Briscoe, QB, Sam Houston State
Buchanan Award	Darius Jackson, DE, Jacksonville State
Playoff
Duration	November 25 – December 16
Championship date	January 6, 2018
Championship site	Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas
Champion	North Dakota State
NCAA Division I FCS football seasons
«2016 2018»

Notable changes

On April 14, the NCAA Division I Council approved a suite of rule changes affecting the recruiting process. The changes most significant to FCS football were to take effect with the 2017–18 school year. A national early signing period for high school players was to be introduced for FBS and FCS, at a time in December to be announced later, and FCS programs would no longer have any restriction on the number of new players that may be signed to letters of intent or financial aid agreements. Previously, FCS teams were limited to signing 30 new players per year.^[1]^[2]

FCS team wins over FBS teams

(FCS rankings from the STATS poll)

August 31: Tennessee State 17, Georgia State 10
September 2: Howard 43, UNLV 40
September 2: No. 1 James Madison 34, East Carolina 14
September 2: Liberty 48, Baylor 45
September 9: No. 12 New Hampshire 22, Georgia Southern 12
September 9: South Dakota 35, Bowling Green 27
September 16: Idaho State 30, Nevada 28
September 16: No. 25 North Carolina A&T 35, Charlotte 31
September 23: No. 19 Western Illinois 52, Coastal Carolina 10

Conference changes and new programs

For the first time since 2012 (and just the second time ever), there were no independent programs in FCS during the 2017 season.

More information School, 2016 conference ...

School	2016 conference	2017 conference
Coastal Carolina	FCS Independent	Sun Belt (FBS)

Conference standings

More information Conf, Overall ...

2017 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 14 Southern Utah +^	7	–	1	9	–	3
No. 5 Weber State +^	7	–	1	11	–	3
Northern Arizona ^	6	–	2	7	–	5
No. 21 Eastern Washington	6	–	2	7	–	4
Sacramento State	6	–	2	7	–	4
Montana	5	–	3	7	–	4
Montana State	5	–	3	5	–	6
UC Davis	3	–	5	5	–	6
Idaho State	2	–	6	4	–	7
Northern Colorado	2	–	6	3	–	7
North Dakota	2	–	6	3	–	8
Cal Poly	1	–	7	1	–	10
Portland State	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Big South Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 8 Kennesaw State $^	5	–	0	12	–	2
Monmouth ^	4	–	1	9	–	3
Charleston Southern	3	–	2	6	–	5
Liberty *	2	–	3	6	–	5
Presbyterian	1	–	4	4	–	7
Gardner–Webb	0	–	5	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant * Liberty ineligible for postseason due to FBS transition Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^	8	–	0	14	–	1
No. 11 Stony Brook ^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 20 Elon ^	6	–	2	8	–	4
No. 12 New Hampshire ^	5	–	3	9	–	5
Delaware	5	–	3	7	–	4
Richmond	4	–	4	6	–	5
Towson	3	–	5	5	–	6
Villanova	3	–	5	5	–	6
Maine	3	–	5	4	–	6
Albany	2	–	6	4	–	7
Rhode Island	2	–	6	3	–	8
William & Mary	0	–	8	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Ivy League football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 24 Yale $	6	–	1	9	–	1
Columbia	5	–	2	8	–	2
Dartmouth	5	–	2	8	–	2
Penn	4	–	3	6	–	4
Harvard	3	–	4	5	–	5
Cornell	3	–	4	3	–	7
Princeton	2	–	5	5	–	5
Brown	0	–	7	2	–	8

$ – Conference champion Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 7 North Carolina A&T $	8	–	0	12	–	0
Howard	6	–	2	7	–	4
Bethune–Cookman	6	–	2	7	–	4
North Carolina Central	5	–	3	7	–	4
Hampton	5	–	3	6	–	5
Norfolk State	4	–	4	4	–	7
Savannah State *	3	–	5	3	–	8
South Carolina State	2	–	6	3	–	7
Florida A&M *	2	–	6	3	–	8
Delaware State	2	–	6	2	–	9
Morgan State *	1	–	7	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion * Florida A&M, Morgan State and Savannah State ineligible for postseason due to APR violations Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^	7	–	1	14	–	1
No. 3 South Dakota State ^	6	–	2	11	–	3
No. 19 Northern Iowa ^	6	–	2	8	–	5
No. 13 Western Illinois ^	5	–	3	8	–	4
No. 15 South Dakota ^	4	–	4	8	–	5
Illinois State	4	–	4	6	–	5
Youngstown State	4	–	4	6	–	5
Southern Illinois	2	–	6	4	–	7
Missouri State	2	–	6	3	–	8
Indiana State	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Northeast Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Central Connecticut $^	6	–	0	8	–	3
Duquesne	4	–	2	7	–	4
Bryant	4	–	2	6	–	5
Saint Francis (PA)	3	–	3	5	–	6
Sacred Heart	2	–	4	4	–	7
Wagner	2	–	4	4	–	7
Robert Morris	0	–	6	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant

2017 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 9 Jacksonville State $^	8	–	0	10	–	2
Austin Peay	7	–	1	8	–	4
Eastern Illinois	5	–	3	6	–	5
UT Martin	4	–	4	6	–	5
Eastern Kentucky	3	–	5	4	–	7
Southeast Missouri State	3	–	5	3	–	8
Tennessee State	2	–	5	6	–	5
Murray State	2	–	5	3	–	8
Tennessee Tech	1	–	7	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Patriot League football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Colgate +	5	–	1	7	–	4
Lehigh +^	5	–	1	5	–	7
Holy Cross	3	–	3	4	–	7
Fordham	3	–	3	4	–	7
Lafayette	3	–	3	3	–	8
Bucknell	2	–	4	5	–	6
Georgetown	0	–	6	1	–	10

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant

2017 Pioneer Football League standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 23 San Diego $^	8	–	0	10	–	3
Drake	6	–	2	7	–	4
Jacksonville	5	–	3	7	–	4
Campbell	5	–	3	6	–	5
Valparaiso	5	–	3	6	–	5
Butler	4	–	4	6	–	5
Dayton	4	–	4	5	–	6
Marist	3	–	5	4	–	7
Morehead State	3	–	5	4	–	7
Stetson	1	–	7	2	–	9
Davidson	0	–	8	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Southern Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 6 Wofford $^	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 18 Samford ^	6	–	2	8	–	4
No. 19 Furman ^	6	–	2	8	–	5
Western Carolina	5	–	3	7	–	5
Mercer	4	–	4	5	–	6
The Citadel	3	–	5	5	–	6
Chattanooga	3	–	5	3	–	8
East Tennessee State	2	–	6	4	–	7
VMI	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

2017 Southland Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 10 Central Arkansas $^	9	–	0	10	–	2
No. 4 Sam Houston State ^	8	–	1	12	–	2
No. 25 Nicholls State ^	7	–	2	8	–	4
No. 22 McNeese State	7	–	2	9	–	2
Southeastern Louisiana	6	–	3	6	–	5
Northwestern State	4	–	5	4	–	7
Stephen F. Austin	4	–	5	4	–	7
Abilene Christian	2	–	7	2	–	9
Incarnate Word	1	–	7	1	–	10
Lamar	1	–	8	2	–	9
Houston Baptist	0	–	9	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS poll

2017 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
Alcorn State xy	5	–	2	7	–	5
Alabama State	4	–	3	5	–	6
Alabama A&M	3	–	4	4	–	7
Jackson State	3	–	4	3	–	8
Mississippi Valley State	1	–	6	2	–	9
West Division
No. 16 Grambling State xy$	7	–	0	11	–	2
Southern	5	–	2	7	–	4
Prairie View A&M	4	–	3	6	–	5
Texas Southern	2	–	5	2	–	9
Arkansas–Pine Bluff	1	–	6	2	–	9
Championship: Grambling State 40, Alcorn State 32
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Conference summaries

Championship games

More information Conference, Champion ...

Conference	Champion	Runner-up	Score	Offensive Player of the Year	Defensive Player of the Year	Coach of the Year
SWAC	Grambling State 11–1 (8–0)	Alcorn State 7–5 (5–2)	40–32	Devante Kincade (Grambling State)	De’Arius Christmas (Grambling State)	Broderick Fobbs (Grambling State)

Other conference winners

Note: Records are regular-season only, and do not include playoff games.

More information Conference, Champion ...

Conference	Champion	Record	Offensive Player of the Year	Defensive Player of the Year	Coach of the Year
Big Sky	Southern Utah Weber State	9–2 (7–1) 9–2 (7–1)	Keelan Doss (UC Davis)	Taron Johnson (Weber State)	Demario Warren (Southern Utah)
Big South	Kennesaw State	10–1 (5–0)	Chandler Burks (Kennesaw State)	Anthony Ellis (Charleston Southern)	Brian Bohannon (Kennesaw State)
CAA	James Madison	11–0 (8–0)	Kyle Lauletta (Richmond)	Andrew Ankrah (James Madison)	Curt Cignetti (Elon)
Ivy	Yale	9–1 (6–1)	Chad Kanoff (Princeton)	Matthew Oplinger (Yale)	Al Bagnoli (Columbia)
MEAC	North Carolina A&T	11–0 (8–0)	Lamar Raynard (North Carolina A&T)	Shaquille Leonard (South Carolina State)	Rod Broadway (North Carolina A&T)
MVFC	North Dakota State	10–1 (7–1)	Chris Streveler (South Dakota)	Brett Taylor (Western Illinois)	Chris Klieman (North Dakota State)
NEC	Central Connecticut	8–3 (6–0)	Tommy Stuart (Duquesne)	Tom Costigan (Bryant)	Peter Rossomando (Central Connecticut)
OVC	Jacksonville State	10–1 (8–0)	Roc Thomas (Jacksonville State)	Darius Jackson (Jacksonville State)	Will Healy (Austin Peay)
Patriot	Colgate Lehigh	7–4 (5–1) 5–6 (5–1)	Dom Bragalone (Lehigh)	Abdullah Anderson (Bucknell)	Dan Hunt (Colgate)
Pioneer	San Diego	9–2 (8–0)	Anthony Lawrence (San Diego)	Jonathan Petersen (San Diego)	Dave Cecchini (Valparaiso)
Southern	Wofford	9–2 (7–1)	Devlin Hodges (Samford)	Ahmad Gooden (Samford)	Clay Hendrix (Furman)
Southland	Central Arkansas	10–1 (9–0)	Hayden Hildebrand (Central Arkansas)	George Odum (Central Arkansas)	Steve Campbell (Central Arkansas)

Playoff qualifiers

Automatic berths for conference champions

More information Conference, Team ...

Conference	Team	Appearance	Last bid	Result
Big Sky Conference	Southern Utah	3rd	2015	First Round (L – Sam Houston State)
Big South Conference	Kennesaw State	1st	–
Colonial Athletic Association	James Madison	14th	2016	National Champions (W – Youngstown State)
Missouri Valley Football Conference	North Dakota State	8th	2016	Semifinals (L – James Madison)
Northeast Conference	Central Connecticut	1st	–
Ohio Valley Conference	Jacksonville State	8th	2016	Second Round (L – Youngstown State)
Patriot League	Lehigh	11th	2016	First Round (L – New Hampshire)
Pioneer Football League	San Diego	3rd	2016	Second Round (L – North Dakota State)
Southern Conference	Wofford	8th	2016	Quarterfinals (L – Youngstown State)
Southland Conference	Central Arkansas	4th	2016	Second Round (L – Eastern Washington)

At large qualifiers

More information Conference, Team ...

Conference	Team	Appearance	Last bid	Result
Big Sky Conference	Northern Arizona	6th	2013	First Round (L – South Dakota State)
Big Sky Conference	Weber State	6th	2016	First Round (L – Chattanooga)
Big South Conference	Monmouth	1st	–
Colonial Athletic Association	Elon	2nd	2009	First Round (L – Richmond)
	New Hampshire	16th	2016	Second Round (L – James Madison)
	Stony Brook	3rd	2012	Second Round (L – Montana State)
Missouri Valley Football Conference	Northern Iowa	19th	2015	Quarterfinals (L – North Dakota State)
	South Dakota	1st	–
	South Dakota State	7th	2016	Quarterfinals (L – North Dakota State)
	Western Illinois	11th	2015	Second Round (L – Illinois State)
Southern Conference	Furman	17th	2013	Second Round (L – North Dakota State)
Southern Conference	Samford	5th	2016	First Round (L – Youngstown State)
Southland Conference	Nicholls State	4th	2005	First Round (L – Furman)
Southland Conference	Sam Houston State	11th	2016	Quarterfinals (L – James Madison)

Abstentions

Ivy League – Yale
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – North Carolina A&T
Southwestern Athletic Conference – Grambling State

Postseason

Bowl game

More information Game, Date/TV ...

Game	Date/TV	Location	Home team	Away team	Score	Offensive MVP	Defensive MVP
Celebration Bowl	December 16 ABC	Mercedes-Benz Stadium Atlanta, Georgia	North Carolina A&T	Grambling State	21–14	Marquell Cartwright (RB, North Carolina A&T)	Franklin McCain III (DB, North Carolina A&T)

NCAA Division I playoff bracket

First round November 25 Campus sites ESPN3		Second round December 2 Campus sites ESPN3			Quarterfinals December 8 and 9 Campus sites ESPN2, ESPN3			Semifinals December 15 and 16 Campus sites ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3			National Championship January 6 12:00 pm Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas ESPN2

		1	James Madison*	26
Stony Brook*	59		Stony Brook	7
Lehigh	29				1	James Madison*	31
						Weber State	28
		8	Southern Utah*	13
Weber State*	21		Weber State	30
Western Illinois	19							1	James Madison*	51
								5	South Dakota State	16
		4	Central Arkansas*	15
New Hampshire*	14		New Hampshire	21
Central Connecticut	0					New Hampshire	14
					5	South Dakota State*	56
		5	South Dakota State*	37
Northern Iowa*	46		Northern Iowa	22
Monmouth	7										1	James Madison	13
											2	North Dakota State	17
		2	North Dakota State*	38
Northern Arizona*	10		San Diego	3
San Diego	41				2	North Dakota State*	42
					7	Wofford	10
		7	Wofford*	28
Elon*	27		Furman	10
Furman	28							2	North Dakota State*	55
								6	Sam Houston State	13
		3	Jacksonville State*	7
Kennesaw State*	28		Kennesaw State	17
Samford	17					Kennesaw State	27
					6	Sam Houston State*	34
		6	Sam Houston State*	54
Nicholls State*	31		South Dakota	42
South Dakota	38

* Home team
Winner
All times in Eastern Standard Time (UTC−05:00)

Kickoff games

Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff (aka Montgomery Kickoff Classic)
- Jacksonville State defeated Chattanooga 27–13 at the Cramton Bowl (Montgomery, Alabama) on August 26.^[3]
Other Week Zero games:
- FBS opponent BYU defeated Portland State 20–6 at home on August 26.^[4]
- Colgate traveled to Cal Poly August 26, coming away as 20–14 winners.^[5]
- Florida A&M hosted Texas Southern on August 26, winning 29–7.^[6]

Awards and honors

Walter Payton Award

The Walter Payton Award is given to the year's most outstanding offensive player. Finalists:
- Jeremiah Briscoe (QB), Sam Houston State
- Keelan Doss (WR), UC Davis
- Chris Streveler (QB), South Dakota

Buck Buchanan Award

The Buck Buchanan Award is given to the year's most outstanding defensive player. Finalists:
- Andrew Ankrah (DE), James Madison
- Darius Jackson (DE), Jacksonville State
- Brett Taylor (LB), Western Illinois

Jerry Rice Award

The Jerry Rice Award is given to the year's most outstanding freshman.
- Winner: Bryson Armstrong (LB), Kennesaw State

Coaches

AFCA Coach of the Year: Brian Bohannon, Kennesaw State
Eddie Robinson Award: Will Healy, Austin Peay

New stadiums

East Tennessee State defeated Division II Limestone 31–10 in the opener for William B. Greene Jr. Stadium on September 2. The team had played its first two seasons since reinstating football at local high school venue Kermit Tipton Stadium.^[7]
Abilene Christian opened Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium on September 16 with a 24–3 win over Houston Baptist, following 57 seasons at Shotwell Stadium.^[8]

Coaching changes

This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2017)

In-season

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2017. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2017, see 2016 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.

More information School, Outgoing coach ...

School	Outgoing coach	Date	Reason	Replacement
Alabama State	Brian Jenkins	October 6	Fired	Donald Hill-Eley ^{[lower-alpha 1]}
Holy Cross	Tom Gilmore	October 15	Fired	Brian Rock (interim)

Interim for remainder of season; interim tag removed on December 7, 2017.

End of season