Every FCS Over FBS Win

Well, the FCS defeating FBS teams is what this website is all about, right?

Below is a breakdown of FCS over FBS wins since 1978. Clicking on any of the years will show a detailed list of the wins for each season. The winning team, losing team, and scores are all provided for each year. The scores were obtained from Sports-Reference as they have all scores involving I-A or FBS teams including if they faced an I-AA or FCS opponent. We also used College Football Results for references to teams transitioning from Division II to I-AA/FCS. A searchable database of the results can be found here.

The list below does not match what can be found on the NCAA website at this link. Why? It is a bit of a weird answer. We compared the list of teams and games cultivated on our own and compared them to what’s included in the NCAA’s own classification history, which can be found here (current as of 2022). So the two should match up, right?

Nope. We believe that the NCAA is applying transitional teams inconsistently while also including Division II wins over FBS teams in some cases. For example, Delaware is listed three times on the NCAA website in 1978 with victories over Villanova, William & Mary, and Colgate. However, Delaware was still a member at the Division II level and did not move up to the 1AA/FCS level until 1980. This information comes straight from the NCAA’s own documents.

In most cases, we use the years listed in the NCAA documents but we also use team data, hence why there might be a discrepancy. In other cases, such as when MAC teams were considered I-AA in 1982, we did not include those as I-AA/FCS upsets. Notes are provided for some seasons that need further explanations. We have a specific page dedicated to the differences between our list of FCS upsets and the NCAA’s list.

Below is a graphical summary of the FCS-FBS matchups from each season followed by a more detailed seasonal FCS-FBS win/loss breakdown for each FCS and FBS conference since 1978. In the table below, clicking the year will bring you to the list of FCS over FBS wins for that season.

Season	Games	FCS Wins	Ties	Win %
1978	61	23	1	37.7%
1979	52	15	3	28.9%
1980	63	25	2	39.7%
1981	57	21	0	36.8%
1982	99	20	1	20.2%
1983	89	20	1	22.5%
1984	82	21	0	25.6%
1985	78	22	1	28.2%
1986	66	17	2	25.8%
1987	73	17	1	23.3%
1988	75	11	1	14.7%
1989	48	13	1	27.1%
1990	65	9	1	13.9%
1991	52	8	0	15.4%
1992	47	11	1	23.4%
1993	47	7	0	14.9%
1994	41	10	0	24.4%
1995	42	7	0	16.7%
1996	46	7	0	15.2%
1997	35	5	0	14.3%
1998	47	6	0	12.8%
1999	51	7	0	13.7%
2000	55	16	0	29.1%
2001	60	11	0	18.3%
2002	65	8	0	12.3%
2003	71	10	0	14.1%
2004	56	6	0	10.7%
2005	54	2	0	3.7%
2006	78	7	0	9.0%
2007	80	10	0	12.5%
2008	88	2	0	2.3%
2009	94	5	0	5.3%
2010	90	7	0	7.8%
2011	97	6	0	6.2%
2012	106	10	0	9.4%
2013	111	16	0	14.4%
2014	108	8	0	7.4%
2015	105	9	0	8.6%
2016	113	10	0	8.9%
2017	98	9	0	9.2%
2018	112	7	0	6.3%
2019	114	3	0	2.6%
2020	36	2	0	6.3%
2021	117	12	0	10.3%
2022	120	8	0	6.7%
2023	118	4	0	3.5%
2024	121	6	0	5.0%

Totals	3,583	496	16	13.8%

For each year below, the I-AA/FCS teams that won or tied against an FBS opponent are bolded and italicized. The number of FCS over FBS victories is provided in parenthesis next to the year so you don’t have to scroll back and forth. Furthermore, team names have been standardized to the current program name (e.g. Northeast Louisiana is now Louisiana-Monroe, Southwestern Louisiana is now simply Louisiana, etc.).

Clicking on the year will bring you to a separate page giving more detail on that season regarding the conference, program changes, and, of course, the list of FCS over FBS wins.