2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season

The 2018 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 FCS Championship Game was played on January 5, 2019, in Frisco, Texas. North Dakota State claimed its second consecutive FCS title, and seventh in eight years, defeating Eastern Washington, 38-24.

Notable headlines

 * June 13 – Major changes to redshirt rules in Division I football (both FBS and FCS) were approved by the NCAA Division I Council. From the 2018 season forward, players could participate in as many as four games in a given season while still retaining redshirt status.
 * September 15 – Hurricane Florence caused unprecedented disruption to college football schedules. For FCS teams alone, the storm forced the cancellation of six games (Elon at William & Mary, Savannah State at Howard, Tennessee State at Hampton, Presbyterian at Stetson, Walsh (D-II) at Jacksonville, and Colgate at Furman) and the rescheduling of nine others.
 * October 27 – Central Connecticut's Aaron Dawson ran for 308 yards in the second half, a record for a half throughout Division I, and 361 yards overall to lead the Blue Devils to a 49–24 win over Wagner.
 * November 17 – In the final game of his college career, Samford quarterback Devlin Hodges set a new FCS record for career passing yardage, surpassing late Alcorn State and NFL great Steve McNair in the Bulldogs' 38–27 win over East Tennessee State. Hodges finished his career with 14,584 yards.

FCS team wins over FBS teams
(FCS rankings from the STATS poll, FBS rankings from the AP poll.)

August 30: UC Davis 44, San Jose State 38 September 1: No. 18 Nicholls 26, Kansas 23 OT September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10 September 1: No. 19 Villanova 19, Temple 17 September 2: No. 14 North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23 September 8: No. 22 Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28 September 22: No. 16 Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19

Other conference winners
Note: Records are regular-season only, and do not include playoff games.

Abstentions

 * Ivy League – Princeton
 * Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – North Carolina A&T
 * Southwestern Athletic Conference – Alcorn State

Kickoff games
One kickoff game was played during "Week Zero" on August 25:
 * FCS Kickoff (Cramton Bowl, Montgomery): North Carolina A&T defeated Jacksonville State, 20–17

Walter Payton Award

 * The Walter Payton Award is given to the year's most outstanding offensive player. Finalists:
 * Chandler Burks (QB), Kennesaw State
 * Devlin Hodges (QB), Samford
 * Easton Stick (QB), North Dakota State

Buck Buchanan Award

 * The Buck Buchanan Award is given to the year's most outstanding defensive player. Finalists:
 * Zach Hall (LB), Southeast Missouri State
 * Dante Olson (LB), Montana
 * Derick Roberson (DE), Sam Houston State

Jerry Rice Award

 * The Jerry Rice Award is given to the year's most outstanding freshman.
 * Winner: Josh Davis (RB), Weber State

Coaches

 * AFCA Coach of the Year: Joe Harasymiak, Maine
 * Eddie Robinson Award: Dan Hawkins, UC Davis

Preseason and in-season
This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2018. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2018, see 2017 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.