NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions in the United States whose football programs are not part of a footballconference. This means that FCS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition as conference schools do. As of the 2024 season, Merrimack and Sacred Heart will be competing as independents, as their primary conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, does not sponsor football. They were previously members of the Northeast Conference which does sponsor the sport. Merrimack and Sacred Heart are confirmed to play as FCS independents in 2024.[1][2]
The following is a complete list of teams that have been Division I-AA/FCS Independents since the formation of Division I-AA in 1978. The "Current Conference" column indicates affiliations for the 2023 college football season. The years listed in this table are football seasons; since football is a fall sport, this means that the final season of independent status, or membership in a given conference, is the calendar year before a conference change took effect.
Teams in italics are current FBS members; this includes second-year transitional schools that are counted as FBS for scheduling purposes but not bowl game eligibility. Because James Madison met FBS scheduling requirements in its first season in the Sun Belt Conference in 2022 (specifically five home games against FBS opposition), it was allowed to skip the first year of the normal two-year process.
^Arkansas State has been a full Sun Belt member since 1991, but the conference did not sponsor football until 2001.
^Austin Peay only departed OVC football; it remained a full but non-football member before returning to OVC football in 2007.
^ abcdefThe conference now known as the Patriot League began in 1986 as the football-only Colonial League. It adopted its current name in 1990, when it became an all-sports conference.
^Buffalo became a full member of the MAC in 1998, but was not a football member until 1999.
^ abThe Great West Conference began in 2004 as the Great West Football Conference. It became an all-sports conference in 2008.
^Coastal Carolina joined the Sun Belt Conference as a full but non-football member in 2016, and joined Sun Belt football in 2017.
^Delaware has been a full member of the Coastal Athletic Association since 2001 (when that conference was known as the Colonial Athletic Association). However, the CAA did not sponsor football until 2007, when it effectively took over the football league previously sponsored by the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), establishing the separate entity of CAA Football to govern that sport.
^ abcCAA Football is the direct successor of both the Yankee Conference and A-10 football conference. The football-only Yankee Conference was absorbed by the A-10 after the 1996 season. After the 2006 season, the A-10 dropped football after all of its football members joined the newly formed CAA Football. The Yankee Conference's automatic bid to the I-AA/FCS playoffs passed in succession to the A-10 and CAA Football.
^Delaware will begin a transition to FBS in 2024 and join Conference USA in 2025.
^ETSU resurrected its football program, dormant since the end of the 2003 season, in 2015, playing that season as an independent before joining Southern Conference football in 2016.
^ETSU, which had previously been a Southern Conference member from 1978 to 2005, rejoined the SoCon in 2014, initially as a non-football member.
^Florida A&M was a member of the MEAC in 1986 & 1987, but games played did not count as conference games.
^Florida A&M was a member of the MEAC in 2004, but games played did not count as conference games
^ abcThe MVFC did not adopt its current name until 2008. Before then, it was known as the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (1982–1993) and Gateway Football Conference (1993–2008).
^Liberty became a full member of the Big South in 1991, remaining a member until joining the non-football ASUN Conference in 2018, but the Big South did not sponsor football until 2002.
^Liberty began a transition to FBS in the 2017 season, and became a full FBS member in 2019.
^South Alabama has been a Sun Belt member from the conference's creation in 1976. However, the Sun Belt did not sponsor football until 2001. South Alabama did not start a football program until 2009, and did not play Sun Belt football until 2012.
^Southeastern Louisiana dropped football after the 1985 season.
^Towson was a CAA member at the conference's formation in 1979, but left in 1981; after having been a member of four other conferences, it rejoined the CAA in 2001. However, the CAA did not sponsor football until 2007, when it effectively took over the football league previously sponsored by the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), establishing the separate entity of CAA Football to govern that sport.
^Troy joined the Sun Belt for football in 2004, and became an all-sports member in 2005.
^William & Mary has been a CAA member since the conference's establishment in 1979. However, the CAA did not sponsor football until 2007, when it effectively took over the football league previously sponsored by the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), establishing the separate entity of CAA Football for that sport.
References
^"Five Home Games Highlight 2024 SHU Football Schedule" (Press release). Sacred Heart Pioneers. February 5, 2024. Retrieved February 8, 2024. The Pioneers, in their first season as an FCS Independent, begin 2024 with three straight home games, including the opener against Delaware State on Aug. 31.
