2010 NCAA Division I FCS football season

The 2010 NCAA Division I FCS football season, the 2010 season of college football for teams in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), began in September 2010 and concluded with the 2011 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game on January 7, 2011. In the title game, Eastern Washington defeated Delaware, 20–19, to claim their first Division I national title in any team sport.

2010 NCAA Division I FCS season
Regular season
Number of teams124
DurationSeptember – November
Payton AwardJeremy Moses, Stephen F. Austin
Buchanan AwardJ. C. Sherritt, Eastern Washington
Playoff
DurationNovember 27 – December 18
Championship dateJanuary 7, 2011
Championship sitePizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas
ChampionEastern Washington
NCAA Division I FCS football seasons

For the first time since 1997, the final game was played at a new location—Pizza Hut Park in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas.[1] Every title game since 1997 had been held at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but the NCAA opened the hosting rights for the 2010–2012 championship games for bids during the 2009 season, as the hosting contract between the NCAA and the Chattanooga organizers was set to expire.In addition to Frisco and Chattanooga, three other cities submitted bids:[2]

The field of bidders was eventually cut to Chattanooga and Frisco, with Frisco being announced as the winner on February 26, 2010.[1]

The January finish to the season was the result of an expanded playoff schedule. The championship tournament expanded from 16 teams to 20, with the Big South and Northeast Conference earning automatic bids for the first time. Eight teams played first-round games, with the remaining participants receiving byes into the second round. The playoffs began at their normal time on Thanksgiving weekend, specifically on November 27. According to early reports, the championship game would be played sometime between December 29 and January 7,[3] with the latter date ultimately chosen.

FCS team wins over FBS teams

September 4 – Jacksonville State 49, Ole Miss 48 2OT
September 4 – North Dakota State 6, Kansas 3
September 11 – James Madison 21, No. 13 Virginia Tech 16 (NOTE: This was only the second win by an FCS school over a ranked FBS team, after Appalachian State's historic win over Michigan in 2007).[4]
September 11 – Gardner–Webb 38, Akron 37 OT
September 11 – Liberty 27, Ball State 23
September 11 – South Dakota 41, Minnesota 38
October 2 – UC Davis 14, San Jose State 13

Conference changes and new programs

School2009 conference2010 conference
Georgia StateNew program FCS Independent
HofstraCAADropped program[5]
LamarRevived program FCS Independent
North Carolina CentralFCS IndependentMEAC
NortheasternCAADropped program[6]
Savannah StateFCS independentMEAC
Winston-Salem StateFCS independentCIAA (D-II)

Conference standings

2010 Big Sky Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 1 Eastern Washington +^ 71  132 
No. 11 Montana State +^ 71  93 
No. 20 Montana 53  74 
Weber State 53  65 
Sacramento State 53  65 
Northern Arizona 44  65 
Northern Colorado 26  38 
Portland State 17  29 
Idaho State 08  110 
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Big South Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 21 Liberty + 51  83 
Stony Brook + 51  65 
Coastal Carolina +^ 51  66 
Gardner–Webb 24  47 
VMI 24  38 
Charleston Southern 15  38 
Presbyterian 15  29 
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 2 Delaware +^ 62  123 
No. 10 William & Mary +^ 62  84 
No. 3 Villanova ^ 53  95 
No. 7 New Hampshire ^ 53  85 
UMass 44  65 
Richmond 44  65 
Rhode Island 44  56 
James Madison 35  65 
Maine 35  47 
Towson 08  110 
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Great West Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Southern Utah $ 40  65 
UC Davis 31  65 
No. 24 Cal Poly 22  74 
South Dakota 13  47 
North Dakota 04  38 
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Ivy League football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 18 Penn $ 70  91 
Harvard 52  73 
Yale 52  73 
Brown 52  64 
Dartmouth 34  64 
Columbia 25  46 
Cornell 16  28 
Princeton 07  19 
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 15 Bethune–Cookman +^ 71  102 
No. 16 South Carolina State +^ 71  93 
Florida A&M + 71  83 
Hampton 53  65 
Norfolk State 44  65 
Morgan State 35  47 
Delaware State 26  38 
North Carolina A&T 17  110 
Howard 08  110 
North Carolina Central * 00  38 
Savannah State * 00  110 
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
  • * Not eligible for conference championship
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 19 Northern Iowa $^ 62  75 
No. 17 Western Illinois ^ 53  85 
No. 9 North Dakota State ^ 44  95 
Indiana State 44  65 
Illinois State 44  65 
South Dakota State 44  56 
Missouri State 44  56 
Southern Illinois 44  56 
Youngstown State 17  38 
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Northeast Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Robert Morris +^ 71  83 
Central Connecticut State + 71  83 
Duquesne 53  74 
Bryant 44  74 
Albany 44  65 
Wagner 35  56 
Monmouth 35  38 
Sacred Heart 26  47 
Saint Francis (PA) 17  110 
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
2010 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 13 Southeast Missouri State $^ 71  93 
No. 12 Jacksonville State ^ 62  93 
Eastern Kentucky 52  65 
Murray State 53  65 
UT Martin 53  65 
Tennessee Tech 44  56 
Eastern Illinois 26  29 
Austin Peay 17  29 
Tennessee State 07  38 
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Patriot League football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 14 Lehigh $^ 50  103 
Colgate 32  74 
Holy Cross 32  65 
Georgetown 23  47 
Lafayette 14  29 
Bucknell 14  110 
Fordham 00  56 
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Pioneer Football League standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 22 Jacksonville + 80  101 
No. 25 Dayton + 80  101 
Drake 62  74 
San Diego 53  56 
Morehead State 44  56 
Davidson 35  38 
Butler 26  47 
Marist 26  38 
Campbell 26  38 
Valparaiso 08  011 
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Southern Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 4 Appalachian State +^ 71  103 
No. 6 Wofford +^ 71  103 
No. 5 Georgia Southern ^ 53  105 
Chattanooga 53  65 
Elon 53  65 
Furman 35  56 
Samford 26  47 
The Citadel 17  38 
Western Carolina 17  29 
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network Poll
2010 Southland Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 8 Stephen F. Austin $^ 61  93 
McNeese State 52  65 
Central Arkansas 43  74 
Sam Houston State 43  65 
Northwestern State 43  56 
Nicholls State 34  47 
Texas State 16  47 
Southeastern Louisiana 16  29 
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll
2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
East Division
Alabama State xy 63  75 
Jackson State x 63  83 
Alcorn State 45  56 
Alabama A&M 27  38 
Mississippi Valley State 09  010 
West Division
Texas Southern xy$ 81  93 
No. 23 Grambling State x 81  92 
Prairie View A&M 63  74 
Arkansas–Pine Bluff 45  56 
Southern 18  29 
Championship: Texas Southern 11, Alabama State 6
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from The Sports Network Poll
2010 NCAA Division I FCS independents football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
Old Dominion   83 
Georgia State   65 
Lamar   56 

Playoff qualifiers

Automatic berths for conference champions

At large qualifiers

No teams from the conferences that do not have automatic bids—currently the Great West Conference and Pioneer Football League—received bids. In order for a team from a conference without an automatic bid to be eligible for the playoffs, it must have a minimum of seven Division I wins, with at least two against teams in automatic bid conferences. The team in question also must be ranked an average of 16 or better in the national rankings.[citation needed]

Abstentions

(Overall Record, Conference Record)

Postseason

After 24 seasons with a playoff field of sixteen teams, the FCS bracket was expanded to twenty this postseason, with the five seeded teams and seven others receiving first-round byes. The championship game was moved to January, three weeks after the mid-December semifinals.

The FCS playoff field was twenty for three seasons, then expanded to 24 in 2013.

NCAA Division I playoff bracket

First Round
November 27
Campus sites
Second Round
December 4
Campus sites
Quarterfinals
December 10 and 11
Campus sites
Semifinals
December 17 and 18
Campus sites
National Championship Game

January 7
Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas

Western Illinois14
Western Illinois171Appalachian State*42
Coastal Carolina*101Appalachian State*24
Villanova42
Villanova54
Stephen F. Austin*24
Villanova31
5Eastern Washington*41
North Dakota State42
Robert Morris174Montana State*17
North Dakota State*43North Dakota State31
5Eastern Washington*38
SE Missouri State17
5Eastern Washington*37
5Eastern Washington20
3Delaware19
Georgia Southern31
South Carolina State162William & Mary*15
Georgia Southern*41Georgia Southern23
Wofford*20
Wofford17
Jacksonville State*14
Georgia Southern10
3Delaware*27
Lehigh20
Lehigh143Delaware*42
Northern Iowa*73Delaware*16
New Hampshire3
New Hampshire45
Bethune–Cookman*20
* Home team

SWAC Championship Game

DateLocationVenueWest Div. ChampionEast Div. ChampionResult
December 11[7]Birmingham, AlabamaLegion FieldTexas SouthernAlabama StateTSU 11 – ASU 6

Global Kilimanjaro Bowl

On September 1, 2010, Drake University announced it would participate in the Global Kilimanjaro Bowl, the first American football game played on the continent of Africa. The game featured the Drake Bulldogs versus Mexican All-Star team CONADEIP. Due to the seasonal difference in Africa, the Global Kilimanjaro Bowl was played on May 21, 2011.[8]

DateLocationVenueMexican TeamUSA TeamResult
May 21, 2011Arusha, TanzaniaSheikh Amri Abeid Memorial StadiumCONADEIP StarsDrake BulldogsDrake 17 – CONADEIP 7

Final poll standings


Standings are from the FCS Coaches final poll.

RankTeamRecord
1Eastern Washington Eagles13–2
2Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens12–3
3Villanova Wildcats9–5
4Appalachian State Mountaineers10–3
5Wofford Terriers10–3
6Georgia Southern Eagles10–5
7New Hampshire Wildcats8–5
8William & Mary Tribe8–4
9North Dakota State Bison9–5
10Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks9–3
11Montana State Bobcats9–3
12Jacksonville State Gamecocks9–3
13Southeast Missouri State Redhawks9–3
14Lehigh Mountain Hawks10–3
15Bethune–Cookman Wildcats10–2
16Penn Quakers9–1
17South Carolina State Bulldogs9–3
18Northern Iowa Panthers7–5
19Liberty Flames8–3
20Western Illinois Leathernecks8–5
21Montana Grizzlies7–4
22Jacksonville Dolphins10–1
23Cal Poly Mustangs7–4
24Grambling State Tigers9–2
25Dayton Flyers10–1

References

External links

Media related to 2010 NCAA Division I FCS football season at Wikimedia Commons