In recent years, first-time qualifiers have fared well in the FCS playoffs. Here are the football programs that are chasing their first all-time bid in 2026.
One year after Ivy League powers Yale and Harvard finally got in on the fun, plenty of FCS football programs will seek their first bid to the NCAA playoffs in 2026.
More than one quarter of the 126 current FCS programs have not qualified for the playoffs, which have been a staple of the Division I subdivision since its inception in 1978 (and growing from four teams initially to 24 qualifiers today).
In 2025, Yale posted a 28-point comeback win at Youngstown State in the first round and Harvard also was a qualifier in the Ivy League’s first season of playoff eligibility. In the last four playoffs, five of the seven first-time qualifiers have posted a win – Gardner-Webb in 2022, Mercer in 2023, Abilene Christian and Tarleton State in 2024, then Yale last season.
The 2026 FCS playoffs – the 49th overall – will begin on Nov. 28 and conclude in early January in Nashville, Tennessee. Montana State is the defending champion.
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Big Sky – Northern Colorado, Utah Tech
CAA Football – Bryant, Campbell
Ivy – Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton
NEC Football – Chicago State (start-up program is ineligible for NEC title and automatic playoff bid in 2026), Long Island University, Mercyhurst (eligible in 2027), New Haven (eligible in 2028), Stonehill
Ohio Valley – Lindenwood
Patriot – Bucknell, Georgetown
Pioneer – Marist, Morehead State, Presbyterian, Stetson, St. Thomas, Valparaiso
Southland – East Texas A&M, Houston Christian, UTRGV
SWAC – Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Prairie View A&M, Southern, Texas Southern
UAC – North Alabama, West Georgia (eligible in 2027)
Independent – Merrimack
For more FCS football coverage, follow on social media at X, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
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