2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season

The 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The season began on September 1, 2011, and concluded with the 2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game on January 7, 2012, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. North Dakota State won their first FCS championship, defeating Sam Houston State by a final score of 17–6.

FCS team wins over FBS teams
September 3: Richmond 23, Duke 21 September 3: Sacramento State 29, Oregon State 28OT September 17: Indiana State 44, Western Kentucky 16 September 24: North Dakota State 37, Minnesota 24 September 24: Sam Houston State 48, New Mexico 45 OT September 24: Southern Utah 41, UNLV 16

Conference changes and new programs
+ "unclassified" for 2009 (partial season) and 2010 (full season)

Automatic berths for conference champions

 * Big Sky Conference – Montana
 * Big South Conference – Stony Brook
 * Colonial Athletic Association – Towson
 * Missouri Valley Football Conference – North Dakota State
 * Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Norfolk State
 * Northeast Conference – Albany
 * Ohio Valley Conference – Tennessee Tech
 * Patriot League – Lehigh
 * Southern Conference – Georgia Southern
 * Southland Conference – Sam Houston State

At large qualifiers

 * Big Sky Conference – Montana State
 * Colonial Athletic Association – James Madison, Maine, New Hampshire, Old Dominion
 * Missouri Valley Football Conference – Northern Iowa
 * Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Kentucky
 * Southern Conference – Appalachian State, Wofford
 * Southland Conference – Central Arkansas

No teams from the conferences that do not have automatic bids—currently the Great West Conference and Pioneer Football League—received bids.

Abstains

 * Ivy League – Harvard
 * Southwestern Athletic Conference – Grambling State

NCAA Division I playoff bracket
* Host institution