2024 FCS Playoff Bracket

Editor’s Note: The 2024 FCS Playoff Selection Show will be broadcast on ESPNU at 12:30 PM on Sunday, November 24, 2024. The article, bracket, and playoff teams table will be updated as the selections are revealed and playoff games are completed.

The 2024 FCS Playoff bracket has been revealed and Montana State took the top spot, which is the first time they’ve been the #1 overall seed. Behind them are a trio of MVFC teams and an additional Big Sky team that will round out the top 5: North Dakota State, South Dakota State, South Dakota, and UC Davis. For reference, the Bison were the top seed in the FCS Playoff Committee’s mid-season top 10 rankings. The final three first-round byes went to Incarnate Word (Southland), Mercer (Southern), and Idaho (Big Sky). Please note that in 2024, the 12th-seeded Illinois State Redbirds WILL NOT be hosting a first-round game due to Illinois State High School Playoff games taking place at its stadium on November 30. Instead, they will travel to Cape Girardeau to face Southeast Missouri State.

The opening round of the FCS Playoffs will begin on Saturday, November 30 with teams seeded 9 through 16 hosting first-round games with the NCAA expanding the seeds from 8 to 16 beginning this season. Those 8 winners will advance to the second round to play at one of the top 8 seeded teams on Saturday, December 7. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday, December 13, and Saturday, December 14 with the semifinals will take place the following week on Saturday, December 21. The highest remaining seeds will host the games in each round unless the host has a scheduling conflict. If two unseeded teams play each other, the NCAA will determine the school that hosts the contest.

The FCS National Championship will be played on Monday, January 6, 2025, in Frisco, Texas with a kickoff at 7 PM Eastern Time on ESPN. The entire playoff bracket is provided below. The bracket below shows the home team on the bottom of each matchup and the bracket will be updated as the games are played and completed. Additional information for each game including the date, kickoff time, broadcasting station, and location is provided by hovering or clicking on the matchup. A * Denotes the number of overtime periods played in a game

2024 FCS Playoff Teams

The table below shows all 24 FCS Playoff teams including the seed, record, conference, method of qualification, and how many total appearances they have (including the 2024 season). 10 teams reached the FCS Playoffs as their conference’s automatic qualifier while the other 14 were at-large selections. The table is sortable by each column. The Big Sky led the way with 5 selections, the CAA and MVFC had 4 each, the Big South-OVC and UAC had 3 each, and the Northeast, Patriot League, Southern, and Southland conferences only had one selection.

Per the FCS Selection Committee, the final four teams in the field were Eastern Kentucky, Northern Arizona, Tennessee State, and UT Martin. The first four out were Chattanooga, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Utah, and Stony Brook.

Photo Credit to UC Davis Athletics