FCS Football Notes and Thoughts on College Football Every Day: 2026

/

March 14th:

  • Dartmouth released their 2026 schedule yesterday, as they announced their final opponent - which will be Merrimack. Not the most exciting game they could have, but almost all the teams have set their schedules - and besides, this is a cross-border matchup. Could be worse.

  • I really like the Big Green’s other non-conference opponents - Monmouth and Lehigh. The Hawks just missed the playoff field last year because of their loss to Albany to end the season, while the Mountain Hawks are the defending Patriot League champions - who recently lost their head coach to Yale.

  • Dartmouth last traveled to Bethlehem, Pa. to take on Lehigh in 1996 which ended in a  21-14 win for Big Green, but the Mountain Hawks still lead the all-time series 5-3 despite six of the games being played in Hanover, NH.

  • Before the Patriot League expanded to ten teams, the schools would have to schedule a lot of non-conference games - a lot of them being against the Ivy League. Unfortunately, we will see fewer of theses matchups, but maybe it will establish new rivalries for the Ivies - such as a cross-town games between Yale and New Haven…

  • One last thing about the Patriot League today - I am really excited about their upcoming season. There should be some great games since seven of the ten members have made the FCS playoffs in the last four years! Bucknell and Georgetown are the only Patriot League teams to never make the playoffs, and the chances have been made worse with the recent additions of Villanova, Richmond and William & Mary…

March 8th:

  • For the second season in a row, Idaho will travel to Missoula to battle the Montana Grizzlies for the Little Brown Stein. Idaho has dominated the overall series with a 56-32-2 record against Montana, but the Griz have won nine of the last ten matchups.

  • First-year Big Sky member Utah Tech will be thrown to the fire right from the start as they host FCS national champion Montana State to open the season.

  • And Southern Utah’s journey back to the Big Sky doesn’t start any easier than Utah Tech’s season as the Thunder Birds travel to Missoula, Montana to take on perennial FCS powerhouse Montana.

  • Austin Peay will take on former OVC opponent UT Martin for the first time since 2021. UT Martin leads the all-time series 40-27-2, with the Govs last win against the Skyhawks being a 38-24 victory back in 2019.

  • On Sept. 5, Hampton will make program history by facing its first-ever Power Four opponent, traveling to College Park to take on the Maryland.

March 6th:

  • Harvard officially released their schedule though it has been put together for the last few months. The Crimson will start their 153rd season of football with their first-ever trip to Durham, NH to take on the Wildcats of UNH. And as usual, their regular season wraps up with a game against Yale. The 142nd playing of The Game is slated for Nov. 21 at Fenway Park in Boston. The two teams will meet at America's Most Beloved Ballpark for the first time since 2018.

  • Yesterday I talked about how Cal Poly released their schedule for this fall. Their is renewed excitement at the school as they are about to complete construction on the John Madden Football Center - a $45 million facility will be the new training and meeting center for the program and be a beacon of the legacy of Cal Poly football alum and icon John Madden.

  • Another school that published their 2026 schedule was Howard. Being that I am a Civil War buff, I can’t help but be interested in their Richmond game since the two capitals in the United States during the Civil War were Washington D.C. and Richmond. The Bison have lost all three of their games against the Spiders, but they have been able to close the gap with each game…from 68-21 in 2017, to 38-14 in 2021 and then down to one point (13-12) last year.

March 5th:

  • Cal Poly just announced their 2026 schedule. When the Mustangs first joined the Big Sky (2012), they had three winning seasons in the first five years.  Since that time, they have had nine straight losing seasons. The team moved has now moved on from Paul Wulff after three seasons, and they hired Tim Skipper - who was the interim coach for UCLA after DeShaun Foster was fired.

  • After 15 straight winning seasons (and one FCS Championship) from 2007 thru 2021, Eastern Washington has endured four straight losing seasons. The Eagles have stuck with Aaron Best (57-47), who is in his 10th year at the helm. Another losing season could make this his last season.

  • The Vandals had three winning seasons (26-13) with Jason Eck as head coach, but when he left for New Mexico, the losing for Idaho started up again, as they went 4-8. Before Eck came to Moscow, Idaho had suffered through 20 losing seasons in 22 years (16 of them in the FBS). Can Thomas Ford turns things around in year two?

March 3rd:

  • Currently updating the biggest FBS Payouts to their FCS opponents in 2026. One thing I did notice already - last year’s biggest payout ($1M) was given to Grambling State for their visit to Columbus, OH. This year’s biggest payout - LSU is giving McNeese $750k.

  • Lehigh nailed it when they hired Kevin Cahill as their head coach for the 2023 season, but I’m not so sure about Rich Nagy, who they hired yesterday. He has been a defensive coordinator for seven different teams (including UMaine), but in his only stint as a head coach, Nagy compiled a 10-20 record at Allegheny (Division III) from 2019 thru 2022.

  • Looking at the list of FCS teams seeking their first playoff bid in 2026, the team with the best chance in my opinion - St. Thomas out of the Pioneer League. Perhaps Lindenwood out of the OVC-Big South could do it as well…

  • Long Island is optimistic heading into their 2026 season. Last year the Sharks finished 6-6 overall, compiling the most overall wins in a single season of the program's Division I tenure. The season was highlighted by a 28-23 win at Eastern Michigan University, the program's first-ever victory over an FBS team. LIU finished the season on a three-game winning streak, with wins in five of its final six games.

  • Going through Robert Morris’ 2026 Signing Class I noticed three players transferring up from Division III schools. Their names have been added to the list of players moving up from Division III to Division I - I believe that I have found more than 25 players at this point.

March 2nd:

  • The NEC came out with their schedule this afternoon. They are the eleventh (out of 13) to get things posted in the FCS. That leaves the MEAC and SWAC - though more than half the teams in those leagues have already released their schedules.

  • Two more FBS-Division II matchups came to light with this announcement: Mercyhurst will host Glenville State and Wagner will play Southern Connecticut. That brings the count of these games up to 30!

  • I worked on my Coaches spreadsheet for a bit today - adding the new coaches in the CAA. Of the four - three (Van Malone - Hampton, Jeff Gallo - Monmouth, and Sean Goldrich - UNH) are first-time head coaches and the other (Tom Perkovich - UAlbany) had a very successful stint at Division III Susquehanna (84-25 record from 2015-2026).

  • Now that I have checked out the newly posted schedule for Arkansas-Pine Bluff, we can add two more games between the FCS and Division II. UAPB starts off with Morehouse State in Little Rock during Week Zero, and then three weeks later the Golden Lions will host Central State.

March 1st:

  • So far the school that has had the most players transfer up to the FBS: Mercer. The Bears have had 13 players move up - with eight of them following former Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs to Toledo. Weber State is next with twelve players going on to play in the FBS next year.

  • Looking at the Week Zero schedule, the CAA and Patriot League are starting out with some conference matchups. The CAA has one conference game on Thursday (UMaine vs. Towson) and another on Friday (UNH vs. Albany), but all ten teams of the Patriot League are squaring off against one another on Saturday. What a great way to roll out your new conference realignment!

  • In a rivalry that is growing (a trophy was created in 2017 - The Big Dog Trophy), Wofford will play The Citadel on the Saturday of Week Zero. The series dates back to 1916, with the Citadel leading the all-time series 45-33-1, but the Terriers of Wofford do lead the trophy series 6-3.

February 28th:

  • Very rarely do I include a NCAA team versus a NAIA team, but I made an exception with the Northwestern State - Louisiana Christian matchup. These schools are just 55 miles apart, started playing each other in 1908, and are squaring off for the first time since 1968. The Demons lead the all-time series 39-13-6.

February 25th:

  • I’ve done well keeping up with my Daily Notes and Thoughts - but obviously have been a bit negligent here since its been a bit over two weeks since my last update. Maybe I can blame it on the Olympics…

  • Looked up the history between East Tennessee State and Tusculum this morning being that they will now play this September. First off, I learned that they are only 25 miles apart on the Tennessee/North Carolina border. And secondly, they had an extensive history from 1921 through 1950 - meeting 24 times in that span. Tusculum would discontinue their program the following year, only to bring it back forty years later in 1951.

  • When Tony Reno stepped down as Yale’s head coach due to health reasons, I was thinking that the Bulldogs were going to struggle finding a quality head coach this time of year. Boy was I surprised that they were able to hire Kevin Cahill - who has turned around Lehigh’s football program! I forgot that Cahill was an assistant coach under Reno before taking the Lehigh job three years ago.

  • Also regarding Kevin Cahill - I didn’t know that he has a connection to two Maine programs! He was an assistant coach (his first job!) at Maine Maritime for one year in 2001, and then he returned to the state in 2008 as an assistant coach at UMaine for four years.

February 12th:

  • Last night I updated the 2026 conference alignment for FCS, and since I hadn’t done it since 2024 there were quite a few changes made. I also found a few errors that I had made with the original submission a couple of years ago. I hope that I got them all, but there might be something I find the next time I work on it…

  • UC Davis gave head coach Tim Plough a contract extension that runs through1/31/31. Plough has led the Aggies to back-to-back FCS quarterfinal-round appearances.

  • Montana linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu was granted a 9th year of eligibility because of injuries throughout his collegiate career. He will be 26 years old when the 2026 season begins.

  • Quarterback Miles Teodecki, a former Kansas State commit, made it official that he will play for Penn next season. His father, Steve, played quarterback for the Quakers in the 90s.

  • Didn’t realize how close Stetson was to Bethune-Cookman until I looked it up while going through the Hatters schedule. With the distance between the schools being only 20 miles, I need to add this first-ever in-state clash to my Games to Follow spreadsheet

  • I’m excited to see that Boise State and Idaho announced that the two programs will renew their long‑dormant football rivalry with a matchup scheduled for the 2031 season. The game will mark the first meeting between the in‑state opponents since 2010! The Vandals lead the all-time series, but the Broncos have won ten straight over their in-state rivals.

February 10th:

  • For the first time ever, a Marist football player took the field in a Super Bowl — and made history while doing so. The Seattle Seahawks' Jason Myers, who played for Marist from 2009-12, set a new Super Bowl record by kicking five field goals and giving Seattle 17 points in their 29-13 win over the New England Patriots.

  • Rutgers has struck again when it comes to FCS head coaches. The Scarlet Knights have hired former Drake head coach Joe Woodley to be a part of their defensive staff. Woodley, like Travis Johansen, had just finished his first season as head coach of the Bulldogs.

February 8th:

  • South Dakota was the second FCS team this week to lose their head coach. After one year coaching the Coyotes, Travis Johansen stepped down to become the defensive coordinator at Rutgers. Matt Vitzhum was promoted to head coach following two seasons as an assistant at the school.

  • Montana quickly named their new head coach after Bobby Hauck announced his retirement. Bobby Kennedy gets his first chance as a head coach after spending almost 35 years as an assistant at eleven different FBS schools.

  • If North Dakota State moves up to the FBS, they would probably win the Mountain West in their first year in the conference. NDSU football is 9-5 against FBS opponents since moving up to FCS in 2004, including wins against Iowa, Iowa State and Minnesota twice. No announcement has been made yet that they are moving up in 2026…

  • And of course Sacramento State is also trying to make the jump. In fact they are attempting to use the same strategy as SMU when the Mustangs joined the ACC - forgo future conference revenue distributions for a set period of time.

February 6th:

  • It was announced yesterday that Chicago State will kick off its inaugural season with a home game against Roosevelt (Div. II) - a school that’s about 13 miles north of Chicago State.

  • Nine of twelve SWAC schools have announced their 2026 schedules, so the conference release can’t be too far behind.

  • Two of five MEAC schools (Morgan State and South Carolina State) have released their schedules, but nothing has been seen yet from any NEC teams, which isn’t a surprise since they are usually the slowest conference to pull together their schedule.

  • Two more Dartmouth players transferred up to a FBS team (both went are going to Ball State), which brings the number of Big Green players added to FBS rosters for 2026 to nine.

February 5th:

  • Sad to see that Montana head coach Bobby Hauck announced his retirement. Sounds like the all-time winningest coach in the Big Sky (151-43 record over fourteen seasons) had enough dealing with agents who pulled kids in every direction. Hauck led the Griz to four FCS national championship games but lost all of them.

  • The Anderson (Div. II) at Furman game is a matchup of former Commerce (Ga.) High School and Paladin teammates Clay Hendrix ‘86 and Bobby Lamb ‘86. The contest will be Furman's first gridiron meeting with Anderson, which started its football program in 2024 under Lamb, who served as the Paladins' head coach from 2002-10.

  • Almost two weeks ago it was announced that Samford would take on North Alabama in a neutral-site game in Huntsville, AL on August 29th. The two teams have met 13 previous times, but the teams have not played since the 2002 season. The first meeting in the historic series occurred in 1913 and the series has been extremely competitive, with UNA holding a 6-5-2 series lead.

  • Indiana State renews an old non-conference series with Valparaiso this year, so maybe they can do it in the near future with another in-state opponent, Butler. The Sycamores and Bulldogs first met in 1897, though the score is unknown, and played each other almost every year through the 50s, 60s, and a part of the 70s.

February 4th:

  • Quickly went through the 2026 Ivy League schedule which was quite easy since almost all their games (conference and non-conference) are historical series.

  • I am a little more than halfway through the OVC-Big South schedule, just three more teams to review. Not as fun as the Ivy League, but there are certainly games to watch in this conference! Next up will be the MVFC…

  • After winning their first FCS title in 41 years, Montana State might have to wait very long to get their next one. The Bobcats look loaded and ready to go!

  • Hard to believe that North Dakota State had a five-peat and a three-peat in a period of nine years (2011-2019)!

February 2nd:

  • Finished up pouring through the schedules for Big Ten schools, so I can switch back to some FCS schedules until some Group of Six schedules get released. Will probably work on the Ivy League early this week even though they haven’t released their official schedules yet. They still have some non-conference games to get on the books.

  • I have recently seen some schedules released by SWAC and MEAC schools. These teams usually play one or two Division II teams - so I have been adding more games to my list of Division II teams playing FCS schools.

  • The Seahawks have two former North Dakota State players starting on their offensive line: Jalen Sundell (C) and Grey Zabel (G). Once teammates and roommates while playing for the Bison, Sundell and Zabel will now line up side-by-side in Super Bowl LX!

  • And there will be two former Eastern Washington receivers (Efton Chism III and Cooper Kupp) on opposite sidelines in Santa Clara. Kupp is the FCS’ all-time leading receiver in receptions (428), receiving touchdowns (73), and career yards (6,464), while Chism III is the FCS record holder for consecutive games with a reception (53).

February 1st:

  • I have been doing football notes and thoughts mostly regarding the FBS for a month now - so since the calendar has brought us a new month - it is time to do FCS notes and thoughts…

  • There is a good amount of history between Idaho and Utah (Utes lead the all-time series 14-12-2) as the series dates back to 1908. The last time they played was in 1993 when Doug Nussmeier and the Vandals stormed into Salt Lake City and won 28-17. This series will resume on September 3rd this fall for one game.

  • Montana will face an FBS opponent for the first time since 2021 when UM beat Washington in Seattle as the Griz travel to Corvallis to face Oregon State on Sept. 19. The Beavers lead the all-time series with UM 12-2-2, but Montana won the last meeting between the two 35-14 back in 1996.

  • Last year, Tarleton State's season was one of the best in program history, and conference play begins for them on the road against Austin Peay. The Texans and Governors ended the 2025 regular season in a thriller, with Tarleton State winning 45-44 in overtime to clinch a share of the UAC championship - and the loss kept Austin Peay out of the FCS playoff.

  • On Sept. 19th, Albany will play host to Monmouth. The Great Danes defeated the 12th-ranked Hawks to close out the 2025 season, 31-24, in one of the biggest upsets of the season. The loss essentially kept the Hawks out of the 2025 FCS Playoffs, ending the team's season.

  • Campbell will take on three first-time opponents in 2026 - Florida, East Tennessee State, and Albany, a conference opponent, on October 31 on the road. CU's game at Florida will be the program's first against an SEC opponent.