Making sense of FCS conference realignment

It’s been a wild offseason in FCS football, with teams and conferences changing more than ever. There are hundreds of FCS teams and a handful will be playing in a new conference in 2024 and beyond, but what does it all mean?

Here’s a breakdown of the many changes to the FCS football landscape in the upcoming seasons amid major conference realignment.

This article was originally published before the 2022 season. All realignment news is updated as of May 29, 2024.

Moving from the FCS

The following teams are moving from the FCS to the FBS level:

In 2022, James Madison will officially leave for the FBS, joining the Sun Belt.

In 2023, both Sam Houston and Jacksonville State will be FBS programs. In 2022, Sam Houston and Jacksonville State will begin their FBS transition and are ineligible for postseason play, but will remain in the WAC and ASUN conferences, respectively. 

In 2024, Kennesaw State will be leaving for the FBS. The Owls will begin their FBS transition in 2023 and will be ineligible for postseason play.

In 2025, Missouri State University and Delaware will be leaving for the FBS. The Bears will be eligible to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference regular and post-season championships for the 2024 season, according to Missouri State officials. The Blue Hens will be ineligible for a conference title or the FCS playoffs once the transition process begins in 2024.

New to FCS

So we know who’s out, but here’s who’s joining the FCS. Here are the programs that made the jump to the Championship Subdivision since 2022:

Texas A&M-Commerce moves up from Division II to the Southland. The former DII power won the DII title in 2017. Lindenwood joined the NCAA in 2012 at the Division II level and makes the move to the FCS a decade later. Stonehill was a charter member of the NE10.

In 2024, West Georgia will enter the FCS, joining the ASUN conference and Mercyhurst will enter the FCS, joining the NEC conference.

Come 2025, Texas-Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) will introduce its football program in its inaugural season, joining the Southland at the FCS level. 

Conference outlook

Before we get into the shifts within the conferences, let’s first look at what the FCS conferences are. Here are all of the FCS conferences

• ASUN+
• Big Sky
• Big South
• CAA
• Ivy
• MEAC
• MVFC
• NEC
• OVC
• Patriot
• Pioneer
• SoCon
• Southland
• SWAC
• WAC+

+The ASUN and WAC are merging in 2023 to form a football-only conference. More info below

The importance of conferences

Conferences are important at the FCS level because conference winners* receive automatic bids to the 24-team FCS playoffs. However, for a conference to be eligible for an automatic bid, it needs to have a minimum of six eligible teams.

*The SWAC, MEAC and Ivy League do not send their conference champions to the FCS playoffs.

Changes in the FCS in 2024 and beyond

Stephen F. Austin leaves WAC (United Athletic Conference), returns to Southland

On May 29, 2024, Stephen F. Austin announced it would be leaving the WAC for the Southland Conference. The Lumberjacks will join the Southland on July 1, 2024, bringing the conference to 10 FCS teams and the WAC with four FCS team. Stephen F. Austin previously played in the Southland from 1984-2020, before leaving for the WAC in 2021.

Richmond leaves CAA Football for Patriot League

Richmond, a full-time member of the A-10 conference, will leave the CAA for football, instead playing football in the Patriot League. Richmond’s football team is the only team with the new conference affiliation.

Sacred Heart leaves NEC, goes independent

Sacred Heart left the NEC for the MAAC conference. Since the MAAC doesn’t sponsor football, the Pioneers are going independent.

Merrimack leaves NEC, goes independent

Merrimack left the NEC for the MAAC conference. Since the MAAC doesn’t sponsor football, the Warriors are going independent.

Robert Morris leaves Big South, returns to NEC

Robert Morris announced on November 28, 2023 that it will return to the NEC — a conference it left in 2019 — in 2024 as a football associate member. Robert Morris’ departure from the NEC leaves two teams left in the Big South.

Western Illinois leaves MVFC, joins OVC

Western Illinois announced on May 12, 2023 that it will be leaving the Missouri Valley Football Conference to join the Ohio Valley Conference in 2024. The Leathernecks will join the OVC in all sports outside of football beginning July 2023, with the football program joining the new conference a year later.

Bryant leaves Big South, joins CAA

Bryant announced on August 10, 2023 that it will be joining the CAA in the 2024 season as a football member. The move comes two years after Bryant left the NEC to join the Big South as an associate football member (see below). Bryant gives the CAA 16 football teams in 2024.

Changes within the FCS in 2023

Murray State leaves OVC, joins MVFC

Murray State has announced it’s leaving the OVC for the Missouri Valley in all sports. However, the Missouri Valley doesn’t sponsor football. Instead many Missouri Valley programs compete in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, a separate entity. 

In 2023, Murray State will join the MVFC after playing one final season in the OVC in 2022.

North Carolina A&T leaves Big South, joins CAA

For the second time in two seasons, North Carolina A&T has changed conferences. After joining the Big South in 2021, the Aggies are leaving for the CAA. North Carolina A&T was a power in the all-HBCU conference MEAC before struggling in a 5-6 2021 season. The Aggies will try and regain their success in the CAA, officially joining the conference in football in 2023.

Campbell leaves Big South, joins CAA

Campbell announced on August 3, 2022 that it would be leaving the Big South to join the CAA in 2023. The move becomes official July 1, 2023 and will bring the CAA to 14 member schools and 15 football schools. Campbell becomes the latest charter member to leave the Big South.

Changes within the FCS in 2022

Kennesaw State and North Alabama leave Big South, join ASUN

Entering the 2021 season, we knew that Kennesaw State and North Alabama would be playing their final seasons in the conference. They’ll head to the ASUN in 2022, with Kennesaw State taking the 2021 Big South title with it. Kennesaw State will leave the ASUN in 2024 (see above).

Austin Peay leaves OVC, joins ASUN

Austin Peay leaves the OVC for a revamped ASUN in 2022.

UIW spurns WAC, stays in Southland

In November of 2021, UIW accepted a July 1, 2022 invitation to join the WAC. However, UIW reversed that decision June 24, 2022 — exactly one week before the conference switch — instead deciding to remain in the Southland.

Lamar leaves WAC, joins Southland… earlier than expected

Lamar will be rejoining the Southland in 2022, a move coming a year earlier than previously announced. The decision to join in 2022 came on July 11, 2022, about a month and a half before the 2022 FCS season is set to begin.

Lamar, a founding member of the Southland, originally announced its decision to rejoin the conference in 2023 on April 8, 2022. Regardless, the move comes after Lamar left the Southland for the WAC in 2021.

Southern Utah leaves Big Sky, joins WAC

The WAC is revitalized and Southern Utah will join the conference in 2022. Southern Utah joins Utah Tech as the northernmost programs in the conference.

Monmouth leaves Big South, joins CAA

After missing out on another Big South football title, Monmouth departs the conference for the CAA in 2022. 

Hampton leaves Big South, joins CAA

Four years after Hampton made its oft-debated move to leave the MEAC and join the Big South, the Pirates are making another switch. Hampton departs its former conference for the CAA in 2022. The Virginia-based HBCU now has a regional conference rival, with William & Mary only minutes away in the 757.

Stony Brook joins the CAA full time

Yes, Stony Brook was already a member of the CAA for football. But its decision to join the conference in every sport cannot be ignored.

Bryant leaves NEC, joins Big South

Bryant leaves the NEC to join the Big South as an associate football member. The moves comes after Big South lost multiple members. Bryant gives the Big South six football teams in 2022.

Conferences on the edge

Given the NCAA rule requiring six eligible teams to qualify for an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, a few conferences are teetering the line. While the NCAA does grant a two-year grace period for conferences to raise membership numbers back to minimum requirements, here are the conferences with six or fewer FCS teams in the future.

ASUN

Once Jacksonville State officially goes to the FBS and Kennesaw State begins its transition, the ASUN will be left with four playoff eligible teams in 2023 and beyond — Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay and North Alabama remain. That number will increase to five once West Georgia becomes eligible in 2028.

Big South

The Big South has gone through a gauntlet of departures recently, with eight schools departing in the last three years. In 2022, the Big South will have six teams thanks to Bryant’s addition, just enough for an auto-bid. However, that number drops to four teams in 2023 when North Carolina A&T and Campbell depart and two teams in 2024 when Bryant and Robert Morris depart. Only Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb remain. 

MEAC

As mentioned before, the MEAC doesn’t send its conference champion to the FCS playoffs — instead playing in the Celebration Bowl — so it doesn’t have to worry about falling below the auto-bid mark. However, the conference did see Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M leave in 2021, leaving the conference with six teams.

OVC

The loss of Austin Peay and Murray State will drop the OVC to six teams in 2023 — ​​UT Martin, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Eastern Illinois are the holdovers, while FCS newcomer Lindenwood joins. However, the conference will have five playoff-eligible teams during the 2023 season since Lindenwood won’t be postseason eligible until 2026. That number will rise to six playoff-eligible teams during the 2024 season once Western Illinois joins, before rising to seven-playoff eligible teams in 2026.

WAC

In 2022 and 2023, the WAC will be down to three playoff-eligible teams since Sam Houston is transitioning to the FBS and Utah Tech and Tarleton are still in the FCS transition process. 

However, Utah Tech and Tarleton’s transition status will eventually end, giving the conference four playoff-eligible teams in 2024 after Stephen F. Austin’s departure.

Conference associations

To maintain automatic-qualifying bids, conferences have initiated associations between each other to remain eligible. We saw the ASUN and WAC merge to form the AQ7 in 2021, but that was only a one-year partnership at the time. Here’s some of the recent moves announced:

Southland-OVC

The Southland and OVC announced a scheduling alliance for non-conference games in 2022 and 2023, but that alliance does not have playoff implications.

OVC-Big South

The Big South and OVC have an association set for 2023. The two conferences will share one bid among the two conferences. The association between the two conference has an initial term of at least four years, going through the 2026 season. Together, the conferences will have eight playoff-eligible teams from 2024-2025 and nine playoff-eligible teams in 2026.

ASUN and WAC merge to form football-only conference: The United Athletic Conference

The ASUN and WAC announced on April 17, 2023 that the two conferences will make their partnership official as a new football-only conference called the United Athletic Conference (UAC). The UAC will begin play in 2023 as the ASUN and WAC will play a combined schedule with inter-conference play between ASUN and WAC schools. In 2023 the UAC will have nine football-playing members but only seven playoff-eligible members. In 2024, the joint conference will have nine playoff-eligible teams.

The UAC was denied a wavier-request to be formally recognized by the NCAA as a single-sport conference in 2023, so the UAC is technically unofficial, even with the ASUN and WAC sharing an auto-bid.

The ASUN and WAC first merged in 2021 to form the AQ7 to share one automatic bid.

The conferences then renewed their football alliance for the 2022 season. The two conferences played schedules and championships among their own members. The ASUN and WAC shared one automatic qualifying bid, going to one of the two conference champions. The automatic bid determining formula can be found below.

1. Each conference shall nominate its regular season champion (by the conference’s own formula) for AQ comparison.
2. If the regular season champion is a reclassifying team, the conference shall nominate the team finishing highest in the regular season standings that is eligible for an FCS AQ. Tiebreaker formulas are to be set by each conference and may include use of the ASUN-WAC Power Ranking after the conclusion of regular season play.
3. If the two nominated teams have the same W-L record in Countable Games, and they met during the regular season, the head to head winner shall be the AQ recipient.
4. If item No. 3 above is not applicable, the team with the higher ASUN-WAC Power Ranking will be declared the AQ recipient.

Click or tap here for the complete formula from 2022

More

Outside of the mergers, another notable happening during the most recent wave of conference realignment occurred when the SoCon doubled its exit fee for members to $2 million.

The FCS is ever-changing as more teams are making moves in the wave of conference realignment. It all makes for an exciting future in the sport.

Click or tap here for a map of where every FCS team is located by conference

^Scheduled to join FCS in 2025
ª  Playoff Eligible in 2025
+Playoff Eligible in 2026
*Playoff Eligible in 2028