2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season

The 2021 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.

After the prior season was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, resulting in some conferences canceling their seasons and significant rescheduling by other conferences, the 2021 season returned to its traditional fall scheduling. The season ended with a single-elimination tournament, with the championship game held on January 8, 2022 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. North Dakota State won its ninth championship in eleven seasons, defeating Montana State, 38-10, for the title.

Rule changes
The following rule changes were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on April 22:
 * In overtime, teams scoring a touchdown will be required to attempt a two-point conversion starting with the second overtime period (previously the third overtime period) and, if still tied, teams will be required to attempt alternating two point conversions starting with the third overtime (previously the fifth overtime period).
 * Permanently extending the team area from between the 25-yard lines to between the 20-yard lines. A rule implemented for the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic had extended the area to between the 15-yard lines, but it had been scheduled to revert to the 25 for 2021.
 * Creating a process for a review panel that can be used by teams and/or conferences for instances of teams feigning injuries to slow down teams' momentum or stop the game clock.
 * Explicitly prohibiting video board and lighting system operators from creating "any distraction that obstructs play", with violations being deemed unsportsmanlike conduct.
 * If replay overturns a call on the field, the game clock will only be adjusted inside of the last 2:00 of the first half and the last 5:00 of the second half.

Notable headlines

 * September 4 – In Kevin Kelley's debut as head coach of Presbyterian, Ren Hefley threw for 10 touchdowns in the Blue Hose's 84–43 win over NAIA member St. Andrews, breaking the previous FCS record of 9 first set in 1984 by Willie Totten of Mississippi Valley State and equaled in 2007 by Drew Hubel of Portland State. Blue Hose backup quarterback Tyler Huff added 2 TD passes to set a new Division I team record (for both FCS and FBS) of 12, surpassing the previous record of 11 thrown by David Klingler of Houston against Eastern Washington in 1990.
 * November 12 – The Utah Legislature approved changing the name of FCS member Dixie State University to Utah Tech University, effective in the 2022–23 academic year.

FCS team wins over FBS teams
September 2: UC Davis 19, Tulsa 17 September 3: Eastern Washington 35, UNLV 33 September 3: South Dakota State 42, Colorado State 23 September 4: Holy Cross 38, UConn 28 September 4: Montana 13, No. 20 Washington 7 September 4: East Tennessee State 23, Vanderbilt 3 September 11: Duquesne 28, Ohio 26 September 11: Jacksonville State 20, Florida State 17 September 18: Incarnate Word 42, Texas State 34 September 18: Northern Arizona 21, Arizona 19 November 6: Rhode Island 35, UMass 22 November 13: Maine 35, UMass 10

Conference changes and new programs

 * The Western Athletic Conference (WAC), which had last played football in the 2012 season as an FBS league, reinstated football for the 2021 season at the FCS level. The ASUN Conference also announced in 2021 that it would sponsor FCS football in the future.
 * Because WAC and ASUN programs reclassifying from Division II could not be counted toward the minimum of six members required for a conference champion to be an automatic qualifier (AQ) for the FCS postseason, the two conferences pooled their seven members with active FCS programs in 2021 (four WAC, three ASUN) to form the WAC–ASUN Challenge, a temporary league also referred to as the AQ7.

Abstentions

 * Ivy League – Dartmouth
 * Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State
 * Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State

Postseason
After the prior season's playoffs were reduced to a 16-team bracket, FCS returned to a 24-team bracket for this season: 11 of the teams were decided via automatic bids issued to conference champions (listed above) and 13 teams were determined via at-large bids; the top eight teams were seeded.

NCAA Division I playoff bracket
Source:

Rankings
The top 25 from the Stats Perform and USA Today Coaches Polls.

Kickoff games
The regular season began with three games on Saturday, August 28:
 * Indiana State 26, Eastern Illinois 21
 * MEAC/SWAC Challenge at Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta: North Carolina Central 23, Alcorn State 14
 * San Jose State (FBS) 45, Southern Utah 14

Regular season top 10 matchups
Rankings reflect the Stats Perform Poll.
 * Week 3
 * No. 3 James Madison defeated No. 9 Weber State, 37–24 (Stewart Stadium, Ogden, Utah)
 * Week 5
 * No. 6 Eastern Washington defeated No. 4 Montana, 30–24 (Roos Field, Cheney, Washington)
 * No. 5 North Dakota State defeated No. 10 North Dakota, 16–10 (Alerus Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota)
 * Week 6
 * No. 8 Southern Illinois defeated No. 2 South Dakota State, 42–41 OT (Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, South Dakota)
 * Week 10
 * No. 4 Montana State defeated No. 5 Eastern Washington, 23–20 (Roos Field, Cheney, Washington)
 * No. 9 South Dakota State defeated No. 2 North Dakota State, 27–19 (Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, Brookings, South Dakota)
 * Week 11
 * No. 7 Eastern Washington defeated No. 6 UC Davis, 38–20 (UC Davis Health Stadium, Davis, California)
 * Week 12
 * No. 6 Montana defeated No. 3 Montana State, 29–10 (Washington–Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Montana)

Upsets
This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating ranked teams during the season.

Regular season
During the regular season, 33 unranked teams have defeated a ranked team.


 * September 4, 2021:
 * Furman 29, No. 25 North Carolina A&T 18
 * September 11, 2021:
 * Merrimack 35, No. 24 Holy Cross 21
 * September 25, 2021
 * Holy Cross 45, No. 20 Monmouth 15
 * Eastern Kentucky 35, No. 19 Austin Peay 27
 * UT Martin 34, No. 9 Jacksonville State 31
 * October 2, 2021
 * Elon 20, No. 22 Richmond 7
 * The Citadel 35, No. 18 VMI 24
 * October 9, 2021
 * Idaho State 27, No. 7 UC Davis 17
 * South Dakota 20, No. 13 North Dakota 13
 * Youngstown State 41, No. 16 Missouri State 33
 * October 16, 2021
 * Dartmouth 38, No. 23 New Hampshire 21
 * Chattanooga 21, No. 10 East Tennessee State 16
 * Sacramento State 28, No. 5 Montana 27
 * Stony Brook 34, No. 14 Delaware 17
 * Towson 28, No. 12 Rhode Island 7
 * October 22, 2021
 * Columbia 19, No. 25 Dartmouth 0
 * October 23, 2021
 * Weber State 35, No. 2 Eastern Washington 34
 * Illinois State 20, No. 15 South Dakota 14
 * McNeese State 28, No. 16 Incarnate Word 20
 * October 30, 2021
 * William & Mary 31, No. 4 Villanova 18
 * Maine 45, No. 24 Rhode Island 24
 * November 5, 2021
 * Dartmouth 31, No. 20т Princeton 7
 * November 6, 2021
 * Portland State 30, No. 24 Weber State 18
 * Delaware 24, No. 20т William & Mary 3
 * Illinois State 17, No. 13 Northern Iowa 10 OT
 * Stephen F. Austin 31, No. 25 Eastern Kentucky 17
 * November 13, 2021
 * Alcorn State 31, No. 24 Prairie View A&M 29
 * Furman 37, No. 21 VMI 31
 * Mercer 10, No. 22т Chattanooga 6
 * November 20, 2021
 * Southeast Missouri State 31, No. 13 UT Martin 14
 * Nicholls 45, No. 15 Southeastern Louisiana 42
 * Youngstown State 35, No. 17 Southern Illinois 18
 * Elon 43, No. 25 Rhode Island 28

Preseason and in-season
This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2021. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2021, see 2020 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.