2008 had an increase in the number of changes from both conferences and teams.
2008 FCS Over FBS Victories (2)
- Cal Poly @ San Diego State, 29-27
- New Hampshire @ Army, 28-10
National Champion
Richmond (13-3 Overall, 6-2 Colonial Athletic Association) made their debut in the FCS National Championship a winning one by defeating Montana (14-2 Overall, 7-1 Big Sky Conference) 24-7. The Grizzlies were making their sixth title game appearance.
Conference Changes
The Gateway Football Conference changed its name to the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) stopped sponsoring football causing teams to find a new home.
Team Changes
La Salle ended their football program, which caused the end of the MAAC as well. Iona and Marist both became FCS independents while Duquesne joined the Northeast Conference.
North Dakota State and South Dakota State both left the Great West Conference to join the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The other two Dakota programs (North Dakota and South Dakota) began their transition from the Division II North Central Conference to the FCS in 2008 with their first season of eligibility in 2012.
Samford hopped from the Ohio Valley Conference to the Southern Conference while Stony Brook and Presbyterian both went from FCS independent into the Big South Conference.
Two programs joined the FCS: Bryant from the Division II Northeast-10 Conference became an FCS Independent and Campbell restarted their football program to join the Pioneer Football League.
The NCAA did not list Bryant (2012), Central Arkansas (2010), North Carolina Central (2011), North Dakota (2012), Presbyterian (2011), South Dakota (2012), or Winston-Salem State (2011) as eligible FCS teams in 2008. We count those programs as FCS teams for 2008 since they were in a transition to the FCS.
Playoff Notes
The FCS playoff format remained the same for the eighth consecutive season with the seeding of only the top four teams and the use of campus sites through the semifinals. The National Championship was played on December 19 at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the 12th straight season. It was the penultimate FCS title game played in Chattanooga.
2007 Season ———————————————————————————————————————————————————- 2009 Season