Annual Fear The FCS Update: July 2026 Edition

Welcome back to the annual Fear The FCS update, where I provide some insights into changes on the website in the last year. In this case, it’s the last two years, as no update was provided in 2025. I’ve done updates in previous years, including 2022, 2023, and 2024, if you want to read up on those. For this year’s update, the 2022 classification conundrum breakdown is most relevant because I reverted those changes.

To rehash the 2022 issue: between 2000 and 2013, several teams reclassified from I-AA/FCS to I-A/FBS. Some of these realignment changes were not as clear-cut as they are today. Simply put, it’s Schrödinger’s Classification, where some teams are “too good” for FCS but “not good enough” for FBS. The seasons in question were 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2013. I go into more detail below about that specific issue, but additional changes were made after further research revealed some new information. All changes are detailed in the table below.

1978

The changes table at the bottom of the 1978 page was updated to include all changes for the year. Previously, only teams transitioning from I-A or Division II were included, but this did not provide an accurate picture. All teams competing in Division I-AA have been included for the season.

East Tennessee State – ETSU was previously listed as I-AA for the 1978 season, but the Bucs have been confirmed as competing in I-A for the season, per the NCAA’s historical archive. This is the most definitive list of teams I could find for the Division I split. It’s not perfect because it doesn’t list Florida A&M, but that was later changed when FAMU won its petition. The Rattlers went on to win the first I-AA title in 1978.

This has been mentioned previously, but the NCAA’s historical list strengthens the exclusion of Division II wins, which are often counted as “I-AA wins” for 1978. The most notable inclusion surrounds Delaware. The Blue Hens won the Division II title, so it’s puzzling that those victories are included on a list of I-AA over I-A wins. If those have to be included for some reason, an asterisk denoting they were D-II at the time should be added to the footnotes. I understand that a D-II over I-A win in 1978 is noteworthy, but there is irrefutable proof from the NCAA that a team wasn’t part of I-AA during that season, meaning the victory shouldn’t be counted.

Changing ETSU to a Division I-A independent to match their record book results in several changes to the historical list of FCS/I-AA over FBS/I-A wins. First, the Appalachian State (Win), Furman (Loss), and Western Carolina (Win) games were removed as those would be considered I-A versus I-A games. Second, the Austin Peay (Loss), Eastern Kentucky (Loss), Middle Tennessee State (Win), Morehead State (Loss), Murray State (Loss), Tennessee Tech (Win), and Western Kentucky (Loss) games were added. ETSU’s 1978 record in I-AA vs I-A games changed from 2-1 to 2-5. We removed ETSU’s change from the Ohio Valley Conference (I-AA) to the Southern Conference (I-A) on the 1979 page since it was technically a move within I-A.

1978 – 1980 Division II Programs

It felt prudent to have the original list of teams in one section and discuss a prevalent issue spanning multiple seasons in a separate part. As the NCAA Division I structure changed in 1978, some conferences opted to try to move up from Division II, which led to some hybrid memberships. This was most noticeable with the MEAC and SWAC.

Maryland Eastern Shore (MEAC), Mississippi Valley State (SWAC), Morgan State (MEAC), North Carolina Central (MEAC), and Prairie View A&M (SWAC) were previously listed as I-AA members for the 1978 and 1979 seasons. After some additional research, it became clear that those four teams were actually still NCAA Division II programs. The MEAC schools were noted as withdrawing from the conference at the conclusion of the 1979-80 academic year, and further evidence shows they never applied for Division I. The same is true for the two SWAC schools, which were not Division I, according to then-SWAC spokesman Rod Taige.

All five schools are not included as I-AA teams for the 1978 and 1979 seasons, which caused a few changes. First, Maryland Eastern Shore was removed from the list of former FCS teams, having never technically been part of I-AA. Morgan State‘s first FCS season was changed to 1985 when the school joined NCAA Division I, while North Carolina Central‘s first FCS season was changed from 1978 to 2007. Prairie View A&M‘s 1979 matchup against Hawaii was removed from the list of FCS-FBS games. Hawaii was in the WAC at the time and won the game 65-0.

Other changes for the 1979 and 1980 seasons: Bethune-Cookman‘s first FCS season was changed from 1979 to 1980 (no impact to FCS-FBS games); Florida A&M was changed to I-AA/FCS Independent for the 1979 season instead of the MEAC. This led to a change in the record for the MEAC and I-AA/FCS independent, but not an impact on the overall total.

First FCS Season Changes

Outside the above listings, additional changes were made to the first FCS season for several teams. Arkansas-Pine Bluff‘s first year changed from 1996 to 1997, Georgia Southern‘s first year changed from 1983 to 1984, Northern Colorado and UC Davis had their first season changed from 2003 to 2004, and Villanova changed from 1985 to 1987. None of those changes had an impact on the FCS-FBS games total.

The MEAC saw a few membership changes. Norfolk State was originally classified as an independent for the 1997 season, but changed to the MEAC. Florida A&M was listed as a member of the MEAC for the 1984, 1985, and 1986 seasons, but changed to I-AA/FCS independent during those years. The FAMU change led to a record change for the MEAC and I-AA/FCS independents, but did not change the overall total.

Conference Affiliation Changes

Alabama State‘s affiliation was changed from the SWAC to I-AA independent for the 1982 season. This resulted in ASU being added to the 1983 season for a change from an I-AA independent to the SWAC. Davidson‘s affiliation was changed from I-AA independent to the Southern Conference for 1982, despite the Wildcats not playing a conference schedule. Prairie View A&M did not play the 1990 season and was previously considered part of the SWAC that year. Jacksonville State‘s affiliation for the 1996 season was previously listed as the Southland Conference, but the Gamecocks didn’t join until 1997. JSU’s affiliation was I-AA independent, which doesn’t impact the FCS versus FBS games.

FCS-to-FBS Transition Years

In 2022, I made a detailed post about teams transitioning from I-AA/FCS to I-A/FBS after 2000. The 2000 through 2007 seasons saw FCS teams play a hybrid schedule, with roughly half the games against FBS programs and the other half against FCS teams. This makes it difficult to determine the correct affiliation for each season. Basically, it becomes Schrödinger’s Classification of being “too good” for the FCS but “not good enough” for a full FBS season.

The NCAA’s idea was to give teams a chance to ramp up to become competitive at the higher level. In essence, the first season was treated like an independent schedule. Most school media guides and record books classify this as an “FBS Transition” season or something similar. Western Kentucky does not denote the 2007 season as a transition year in the media guide, but a 2006 press release makes it clear that 2007 and 2008 are transition seasons. Florida Atlantic was in I-A for 2004, while Florida International was an I-AA team.

Florida A&M in 2004 was a similar case. The Rattlers played the 2003 season in the MEAC as part of I-AA, but had been approved to move to Division I-A for the 2004 season. That was a short-lived attempt because the Rattlers were back in the MEAC and I-AA for the 2005 season. FAMU played a hybrid schedule in 2004 during its first transition year, as did all the other schools on the list.

Florida International is often cited as moving from I-AA to I-A beginning with the 2004 season, but it was difficult to find anything to confirm that. This Orlando Sentinel article states that FIU joined in 2005, while the most recent NCAA FCS record book from 2022 says FIU was a former member from 2003 through 2005. The NCAA’s historical data has FIU as part of I-AA/FCS from 2002 through 2004.

2000 – South Florida

2001 – Troy

2004 – Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, and Florida International

2007 – Western Kentucky

2013 – Old Dominion

If we were to go back to Y2K, we would have to ask: how would South Florida be classified? Would USF be in I-A or I-AA? This one isn’t straightforward for classifying teams because there are valid arguments that either subdivision can be interpreted as correct. I’m as conflicted now as I was back in 2022, the last time I thought about these classifications. Applying modern arguments doesn’t make it easier either, because typically teams are considered FCS for the first year and then FBS in year two.

The one difference between the previous transitions and the more well-defined modern transitions is the schedules. This is where I will make the delineation and say that the half I-A/FBS and half I-AA/FCS schedules determine the proper classification. Teams that had the half-and-half schedule will be classified as I-A/FBS for those seasons. This includes Old Dominion in 2013, which is counted as FBS by the NCAA’s historical database. ODU had 5 FBS opponents and 7 FCS opponents, which is similar to previous examples.

That means South Florida in 2000, Troy in 2001, Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic in 2004, Western Kentucky in 2007, and Old Dominion in 2013 were changed to be FBS/I-A teams for those respective seasons. To keep the continuity of confusion, FIU wasn’t changed for 2004 because no source even lists the 2004 season as a transition year. Compounding the issue is that FIU actually faced both FAMU and FAU in 2004, two teams that were transitioning…

2008 had one additional change: the Alabama A&M versus Louisiana-Monroe game was counted twice as a win for ULM. This error was corrected, and an additional check was made to ensure no additional games were duplicated from 1978 to 2025. It turned out that the 2008 AAMU-ULM game was the only duplicate.

At the end of the 2025 season, there were exactly 3,709 FCS versus FBS games played before all these updates were made. Following the changes, the total number of FCS versus FBS games played from 1978 through 2025… ended up at 3,708. Total FCS wins decreased from 500 to 497. For the sake of total transparency, all the changes for conferences, teams, and seasons are listed below.

Do Any of These Changes Actually Matter?

In the grand scheme, no. For me, the reason I started this website was to document every FCS over FBS win since 1978, which wasn’t thoroughly or correctly documented. I’ll admit that some of these games are likely incorrect or I have misclassified teams because of some arcane document I’ve yet to discover. Part of this process includes reviewing new information or challenging previous interpretations. I wish there were a standard set of rules for reclassifying teams, but that isn’t the case. Ironically, this website probably wouldn’t exist in that case. Nevertheless, I believe in being transparent about any changes I make to the list and records. I understand this kind of “insight” is purely academic to 99.9% of the FCS fans.

Other Website Updates

Right before the 2025 season started, the website layout was changed to put the news more front and center. Previously, each article was listed one at a time instead of the four at the top. Obviously, the older layout meant more scrolling for a specific article. Also, the search option is more refined with the new format. For all two of you keeping track, this is the third time the website layout has been updated. The OG layout used a navy blue background with gold letters. Safe to say the last two have been a welcome update.

One addition worth noting is that each decade page now has a table showing each season, the number of FCS (I-AA) versus FBS (I-A) games, FCS over FBS wins, total teams, national champions, and runner-up. Each season is also hyperlinked to the internal link providing an overview for that season.

One final note is that I am returning as a voter for the Stats Perform Top 25 poll. 2025 was my first time voting in the poll, and it was quite the experience. Last season, I provided my weekly thoughts as a way to be both transparent and explain my thought process week-to-week. For 2026, I don’t plan to be as in-depth for each team, but I will continue to post the top 25 weekly. I will post my preseason top 25 rankings in the coming weeks.

That concludes the (nearly) annual FCS Versus FBS database update. I suppose this would be version 2.0 with the new website layouts. As always, please feel free to provide feedback that we will consider for a future update or possible improvements that can be made.