The 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, is organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The regular season began on August 27 and ended on November 19. The postseason began on November 26, and ended on January 8, 2023, with the 2023 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.[1] South Dakota State defeated defending champion North Dakota State, 45-21, to win the title.
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- May 18 – The ASUN Conference and Western Athletic Conference renewed their football alliance for the 2022 season, as each suffered key losses of members starting FBS transitions, rendering them ineligible for a playoff automatic qualifier (AQ) as separate leagues. Eight alliance members (three WAC, five ASUN) competed for a single AQ in the FCS playoffs.[2]
- August 31 – The Division I Board of Directors adopted a series of changes to transfer rules.[3]
- Transfer windows were adopted for all Division I sports. Student-athletes who wish to be immediately eligible at their next school must enter the NCAA transfer portal within the designated period(s) for their sport. For FCS football, two windows were established: a 45-day window starting the day after postseason selections are made, and a spring window from May 1–15. Accommodations will be made for participants in the FCS championship game.
- Student-athletes who experience head coaching changes, or those whose athletic aid is reduced, canceled, or not renewed, may transfer outside designated windows without penalty.
- Transferring student-athletes will be guaranteed their financial aid at their next school through graduation.
- September 21 – Houston Baptist University announced a name change to Houston Christian University, effective immediately.[4]
- December 9 – In the highest-scoring game in FCS playoff history, Incarnate Word defeated previously unbeaten Sacramento State 66–63. UIW quarterback Lindsey Scott Jr. threw four touchdown passes to bring his season total to 59, surpassing the previous FCS record of 57 held by Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston in 2016.[5] Scott ended the season with 60, having thrown one TD pass in UIW's 35–32 semifinal loss to North Dakota State.[6]
September 2: William & Mary 41, Charlotte 24
September 3: Delaware 14, Navy 7
September 10: Eastern Kentucky 59, Bowling Green 57 7OT
September 10: Incarnate Word 55, Nevada 41
September 10: Holy Cross 37, Buffalo 31
September 10: Weber State 35, Utah State 7
September 17: Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24
September 24: Sacramento State 41, Colorado State 10
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In November 2021, Incarnate Word announced a move to the Western Athletic Conference for the 2022 season.[7] Days before officially joining, on June 24, the school backed out of that plan, recommitting to the Southland Conference.[8]
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Automatic berths for conference champions
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At large qualifiers
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The FCS again featured a 24-team postseason bracket: 11 teams decided via automatic bids issued to conference champions, and 13 at-large bids; the top eight teams were seeded.[9]
Bowl game
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NCAA Division I playoff bracket
The top 25 from the STATS and USA Today Coaches Polls.
Pre-season polls
More information STATS, Ranking ...
STATS |
Ranking |
Team |
1 |
North Dakota State (52) |
2 |
South Dakota State (2) |
3 |
Montana |
4 |
Montana State |
5 |
Missouri State |
6 |
Villanova |
7 |
Sacramento State |
8 |
Kennesaw State |
9 |
Southern Illinois |
10 |
Stephen F. Austin |
11 |
East Tennessee State |
12 |
Chattanooga |
13 |
Eastern Washington |
14 |
Incarnate Word |
15 |
Jackson State |
16 |
Holy Cross |
17 |
Southeastern Louisiana |
18 |
UT Martin |
19 |
Delaware |
20 |
Weber State |
21 |
Northern Iowa |
22 |
Rhode Island |
23 |
Mercer |
24 |
Richmond |
25 |
UC Davis |
|
USA Today Coaches |
Ranking |
Team |
1 |
North Dakota State (24) |
2 |
Montana |
3 |
South Dakota State (1) |
4 |
Montana State |
5 |
Villanova |
6 |
Kennesaw State |
7 |
Sacramento State |
8 |
Missouri State |
9 |
Southern Illinois |
10 |
Stephen F. Austin |
11 |
East Tennessee State |
12 |
Eastern Washington |
13 |
Chattanooga |
14 |
Incarnate Word |
15 |
UT Martin |
16 |
Southeastern Louisiana |
17 |
Jackson State |
18 |
Holy Cross |
19 |
Delaware |
20 |
Weber State |
21 |
Northern Iowa |
22 |
UC Davis |
23 |
Mercer |
24 |
Rhode Island т Richmond т |
|
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Final rankings
More information Rank, Stats Perform ...
Rank |
Stats Perform[10] |
Coaches' Poll |
1 |
South Dakota State (14–1) (54) |
South Dakota State (14–1) (26) |
2 |
North Dakota State (12–3) |
North Dakota State (12–3) |
3 |
Incarnate Word (12–2) |
Incarnate Word (12–2) |
4 |
Montana State (12–2) |
Sacramento State (12–1) |
5 |
Sacramento State (12–1) |
Montana State (12–2) |
6 |
Holy Cross (12–1) |
Holy Cross (12–1) |
7 |
Samford (11–2) |
Samford (11–2) |
8 |
William & Mary (11–2) |
William & Mary (11–2) |
9 |
Weber State (10–3) |
Weber State (10–3) |
10 |
Furman (10–3) |
Furman (10–3) |
11 |
Richmond (9–4) |
Jackson State (12–1) |
12 |
Southeastern Louisiana (9–4) |
Richmond (9–4) |
13 |
New Hampshire (9–4) |
Southeast Missouri State (9–3) |
14 |
Montana (8–5) |
Montana (8–5) |
15 |
Southeast Missouri State (9–3) |
New Hampshire (9–4) |
16 |
Jackson State (12–1) |
Fordham (9–3) |
17 |
Elon (8–4) |
North Carolina Central (10–2) |
18 |
Idaho (7–5) |
Elon (8–4) |
19 |
Delaware (8–5) |
Southeastern Louisiana (9–4) |
20 |
North Dakota (7–5) |
St. Thomas (MN) |
21 |
North Carolina Central (10–2) |
Mercer (7–4) |
22 |
Fordham (9–3) |
Idaho (7–5) |
23 |
Chattanooga (7–4) |
Florida A&M (9–2) |
24 |
Mercer (7–4) |
Delaware (8–5) т Chattanooga (7–4) т |
25 |
UC Davis (6–5) |
|
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The regular season began on Saturday, August 27 with seven games in Week 0:
- FCS Kickoff (Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Alabama): Jacksonville State 42, No. 10 Stephen F. Austin 17
- MEAC/SWAC Challenge (Center Parc Stadium, Atlanta): Alabama State 23, Howard 13
- Florida State 47 (FBS), Duquesne 7
- North Carolina 56 (FBS), Florida A&M 24
- Western Kentucky 38, Austin Peay 27
- UNLV 52 (FBS), Idaho State 21
- No. 23 Mercer 63, Morehead State 13
Rankings reflect the STATS Poll.
- Week 4
- Week 7
- Week 8
- Week 10
This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating ranked teams during the season.
During the regular season, 13 unranked teams defeated a ranked team.
- August 27, 2022
- September 1
- September 10
- September 17
- September 24
- October 1
- October 8
- October 15
- October 22
- October 29
- Elon 27, No. 12 Delaware 7
- Eastern Kentucky 28, No. 15 Southeast Missouri State 23
- Northern Iowa 37, No. 20 Southern Illinois 36
- Jacksonville State 40, No. 25 Austin Peay 16
- November 5
- November 12
- November 19
Preseason and in-season
This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2022, and will include any changes announced after a team's last regularly scheduled games but before its playoff games. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2022, see 2021 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.
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End of season
This list includes coaching changes announced during the season that did not take effect until the end of the season.
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School |
Outgoing coach |
Date |
Reason |
Replacement |
Previous position |
Charleston Southern |
Autry Denson |
November 14, 2022 |
Fired[14] |
Gabe Giardina |
Albany State head coach (2018–2022) |
VMI |
Scott Wachenheim |
November 20, 2022 |
Resigned[15] |
Danny Rocco |
Delaware head coach (2017–2021) |
Northern Colorado |
Ed McCaffrey |
November 21, 2022 |
Fired[16] |
Ed Lamb |
BYU associate head coach/ST coordinator/safeties coach (2016–2022) |
Houston Christian |
Vic Shealy |
November 21, 2022 |
Resigned[17] |
Braxton Harris |
Campbell associate head coach/linebackers/recruiting coordinator (2021–2022) |
Lamar |
Blane Morgan |
November 21, 2022 |
Fired[18] |
Peter Rossomando |
Charlotte interim head coach (2022) |
Towson |
Rob Ambrose |
November 21, 2022 |
Fired[19] |
Pete Shinnick |
West Florida head coach (2014–2022) |
The Citadel |
Brent Thompson |
November 21, 2022 |
Fired[20] |
Maurice Drayton |
Las Vegas Raiders assistant special teams coach (2022) |
Lehigh |
Tom Gilmore |
November 21, 2022 |
Resigned[21] |
Kevin Cahill |
Yale associate head coach/OC/QB coach (2018–2022) |
Texas A&M–Commerce |
David Bailiff |
November 22, 2022 |
Contract expired[22] |
Clint Dolezel |
Frisco Fighters head coach (2020–2021) |
Idaho State |
Charlie Ragle |
November 28, 2022 |
Became ST Coordinator at Arizona State[23] |
Cody Hawkins |
UC Davis OC/QB coach (2017–2022) |
Delaware State |
Rod Milstead |
November 28, 2022 |
Fired[24] |
Lee Hull |
Howard OC/QB coach (2020–2022) |
Dayton |
Rick Chamberlin |
November 29, 2022 |
Retired[25] |
Trevor Andrews |
Western Michigan linebackers coach (2019–2022) |
Bethune–Cookman |
Terry Sims |
November 29, 2022 |
Fired[26] |
Raymond Woodie |
Florida Atlantic associate head coach/OLB coach/ST coordinator/recruiting coordinator (2020–22) |
Central Connecticut |
Ryan McCarthy |
November 30, 2022 |
Contract not renewed[27] |
Adam Lechtenberg |
Central Oklahoma assistant head coach/co-OC/QB coach (2022) |
UIW |
G. J. Kinne |
December 2, 2022 |
Became head coach at Texas State[28][29] |
Clint Killough |
UIW associate head coach/WR coach/recruiting coordinator (2022) |
Cal Poly |
Beau Baldwin |
December 2, 2022 |
Became OC at Arizona State[30][31] |
Paul Wulff |
Cal Poly associate head coach/OL coach (2020–2022) |
North Alabama |
Ryan Held (interim) |
December 3, 2022 |
Permanent replacement |
Brent Dearmon |
Florida Atlantic OC/QB coach (2022) |
Jackson State |
Deion Sanders |
December 4, 2022 |
Became head coach at Colorado |
T. C. Taylor |
Jackson State OC/WR coach (2019–2022) |
Weber State |
Jay Hill |
December 7, 2022 |
Became DC at BYU |
Mickey Mental |
Weber State offensive coordinator (2022) |
Mississippi Valley State |
Vincent Dancy |
December 8, 2022 |
Became defensive assistant at Colorado |
Kendrick Wade |
Delta State pass game coordinator/WR coach (2022) |
Sacramento State |
Troy Taylor |
December 10, 2022 |
Became head coach at Stanford[32][33] |
Andy Thompson |
Sacramento State defensive coordinator (2019–2022) |
Missouri State |
Bobby Petrino |
December 15, 2022 |
Became OC at UNLV |
Ryan Beard |
Missouri State defensive coordinator and safeties coach (2020–2022) |
North Carolina A&T |
Sam Washington |
December 15, 2022 |
Fired[34] |
Vincent Brown |
William & Mary Assistant head coach/defensive coordinator/linebackers coach (2019–2022) |
Arkansas–Pine Bluff |
Don Treadwell (interim) |
December 22, 2022 |
Permanent replacement |
Alonzo Hampton[35] |
Louisiana–Monroe associate head coach/ST coordinator/safeties coach (2021–2022) |
South Dakota State |
John Stiegelmeier |
January 20, 2023 |
Retired[36] |
Jimmy Rogers[37] |
South Dakota State associate head coach/Defensive coordinator/LB coach (2019–2022) |
San Diego |
Dale Lindsey |
March 21, 2023 |
Retired[38] |
Brandon Moore |
Colorado Mines head coach (2022) |
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The following rule changes were recommended by the NCAA Football Rules Committee for the 2022 season:[39]
- When players are disqualified for a targeting call in the second half or in overtime (which requires a carryover penalty of sitting out the first half of the next scheduled game), an appeals process will be available to allow the National Coordinator of Officials (currently Steve Shaw) to review tapes of the targeting penalty for consideration of not requiring the player to sit out the first half of the following game.
- Injury timeouts awarded due to "deceptive actions" during a game will also be able to reviewed by the National Coordinator of Officials to determine what sanctions, if any, against teams who use this tactic, enforced at the conference or school level.
- Blocking below the waist will only be permitted inside the tackle box by linemen and stationary backs. Blocks below the waist outside of the tackle box are not allowed.
- Defensive holding will remain a 10-yard penalty but will always carry an automatic first down.
- Codifying the rule change made shortly after the 2021 ACC Championship Game, ball carriers who simulate a feet-first slide will be declared down at that spot.
- Uniform rules would require the sock/leg covering to go from the shoe to the bottom of the pants, similar to the NFL rule.