2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
| 2021 NCAA Division I FCS season | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Regular season | |
| Number of teams | 128 |
| Duration | August 28 – November 27 |
| Payton Award | Eric Barriere, QB, Eastern Washington |
| Buchanan Award | Isaiah Land, DL, Florida A&M |
| Playoff | |
| Duration | November 27 – December 18 |
| Championship date | January 8, 2022 |
| Championship site | Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas |
| Champion | North Dakota State |
| NCAA Division I FCS football seasons | |
«2020 2022» | |
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[edit]
The following rule changes were approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on April 22:[1][2]
- 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[edit]
- 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.[3]
- 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.[4]
FCS team wins over FBS teams[edit]
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[edit]
- 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.[5][6] 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.[7][8][9]
Conference standings[edit]
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playoff qualifiers[edit]
Automatic berths for conference champions[edit]
| Conference | Team | Appearance | Last bid | Result of last appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sky Conference | Sacramento State | 2nd | 2019 | Second Round (L – Austin Peay) |
| Big South Conference | Kennesaw State | 4th | 2019 | Second Round (L – Weber State) |
| Colonial Athletic Association | Villanova | 14th | 2019 | First Round (L – Southeastern Louisiana) |
| Missouri Valley Football Conference | North Dakota State | 12th | 2020 | Quarterfinals (L – Sam Houston State) |
| Northeast Conference | Sacred Heart | 4th | 2020 | First Round (L – Delaware) |
| Ohio Valley Conference | UT Martin | 2nd | 2006 | Second Round (L – Southern Illinois) |
| Patriot League | Holy Cross | 4th | 2020 | First Round (L – South Dakota State) |
| Pioneer Football League | Davidson | 2nd | 2020 | First Round (L – Jacksonville State) |
| Southern Conference | East Tennessee State | 3rd | 2018 | First Round (L – Jacksonville State) |
| Southland Conference | Incarnate Word | 2nd | 2018 | First Round (L – Montana State) |
| Western Athletic Conference | Sam Houston State | 13th | 2020 | National Champions (W – South Dakota State) |
At large qualifiers[edit]
Abstentions[edit]
- Ivy League – Dartmouth
- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State
- Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State
Postseason[edit]
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.[10]
Bowl game[edit]
| Date | Game | Site | Television | Participants | Affiliations | Results | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec. 18 | Celebration Bowl | Mercedes-Benz Stadium Atlanta, Georgia 12:00 pm | ABC | South Carolina State Bulldogs (6–5) Jackson State Tigers (11–1) | MEAC SWAC | South Carolina State 31 Jackson State 10 | [11][12] |
NCAA Division I playoff bracket[edit]
| First Round November 27 Campus sites | Second Round December 3/4 Campus sites | Quarterfinals December 10/11 Campus sites | Semifinals December 17/18 Campus sites | National Championship January 8 12:00 pm EST Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Sam Houston State | 49 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stephen F. Austin | 28 | Incarnate Word | 42 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Incarnate Word | 35 | 1 | Sam Houston State | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Montana State | 42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Montana State | 26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| UT Martin | 32 | UT Martin | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Missouri State | 31 | 8 | Montana State | 31 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| South Dakota State | 17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Villanova | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sacred Heart | 10 | Holy Cross | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Holy Cross | 13 | 5 | Villanova | 21 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| South Dakota State | 35 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Sacramento State | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| UC Davis | 24 | South Dakota State | 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| South Dakota State | 56 | 8 | Montana State | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | North Dakota State | 38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | James Madison | 59 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida A&M | 14 | Southeastern Louisiana | 20 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern Louisiana | 38 | 3 | James Madison | 28 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Montana | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Montana | 57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Iowa | 9 | Eastern Washington | 41 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Washington | 19 | 3 | James Madison | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | North Dakota State | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | East Tennessee State | 32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Davidson | 21 | Kennesaw State | 31 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kennesaw State | 48 | 7 | East Tennessee State | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | North Dakota State | 27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | North Dakota State | 38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Southern Illinois | 22 | Southern Illinois | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| South Dakota | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Source:[13]
Rankings[edit]
The top 25 from the Stats Perform and USA Today Coaches Polls.
Pre-season polls[edit]
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Final rankings[edit]
| Rank | Stats Perform[14] | Coaches' Poll[15] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota State (14–1) (50) | North Dakota State (14–1) (24) |
| 2 | Montana State (12–3) | Montana State (12–3) |
| 3 | James Madison (12–2) | James Madison (12–2) |
| 4 | South Dakota State (11–4) | Sam Houston State (11–1) |
| 5 | Sam Houston State (11–1) | South Dakota State (11–4) |
| 6 | Montana (10–3) | Montana (10–3) |
| 7 | Eastern Washington (10–3) | East Tennessee State (11–2) |
| 8 | Villanova (10–3) | Villanova (10–3) |
| 9 | East Tennessee State (11–2) | Eastern Washington (10–3) |
| 10 | Sacramento State (9–3) | Kennesaw State (11–2) |
| 11 | Kennesaw State (11–2) | Sacramento State (9–3) |
| 12 | Incarnate Word (10–3) | UT Martin (10–3) |
| 13 | UT Martin (10–3) | Incarnate Word (10–3) |
| 14 | Missouri State (8–4) | Missouri State (8–4) |
| 15 | Southeastern Louisiana (9–4) | Southeastern Louisiana (9–4) |
| 16 | Southern Illinois (8–5) | UC Davis (8–4) |
| 17 | UC Davis (8–4) | Southern Illinois (8–5) |
| 18 | South Dakota (7–5) | Stephen F. Austin (8–4) |
| 19 | Holy Cross (10–3) | Jackson State (11–2) |
| 20 | Dartmouth (9–1) | South Dakota (7–5) |
| 21 | Stephen F. Austin (8–4) | Princeton (9–1) |
| 22 | Jackson State (11–2) | Holy Cross (10–3) |
| 23 | Northern Iowa (6–6) | Dartmouth (9–1) |
| 24 | Princeton (9–1) | Florida A&M (9–3) |
| 25 | Florida A&M (9–3) | Northern Iowa (6–6) |
Kickoff games[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
This section lists instances of unranked teams defeating ranked teams during the season.
Regular season[edit]
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
Coaching changes[edit]
Preseason and in-season[edit]
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.
| Team | Outgoing coach | Date | Reason | Replacement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stetson | Roger Hughes | May 7, 2021 | Resigned[16] | Brian Young |
| Colgate | Dan Hunt | May 17, 2021 | Resigned[17] | Stan Dakosty |
| LIU | Bryan Collins | June 29, 2021 | Resigned[18] | Jonathan Gill (interim) |
| Alabama State | Donald Hill-Eley | November 1, 2021 | Fired[19] | Travis Pearson (interim) |
| Jacksonville State | John Grass | November 6, 2021 | Resigned[20] | Maxwell Thurmond (interim) |
| Grambling State | Broderick Fobbs | November 15, 2021 | Fired[21] | Terrence Graves (interim) |
End of season[edit]
See also[edit]
- 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season
- 2021 NCAA Division II football season
- 2021 NCAA Division III football season
- 2021 NAIA football season
References[edit]
- ^ "2021 Football Rules Committee recommends tweak to overtime rules" (Press release). NCAA. March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ "Panel approves changes to overtime rules in football". NCAA. April 22, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
- ^ "Presbyterian Blue Hose QB Ren Hefley sets FCS TD pass record in season-opener". ESPN.com. Associated Press. September 4, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
- ^ Imlay, Ashley (November 10, 2021). "Utah Legislature passes Dixie State name change". KSL-TV. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
- ^ Blum, Sam (January 14, 2021). "As WAC announces addition of 5 schools, Frisco-based Southland Conference left in no man's land". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
- ^ "WAC Announces Expansion, Plans to Reinstate Football" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ^ "ASUN, WAC Conferences Announce Football Partnership for 2021" (Press release). ASUN Conference. February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
- ^ "From the Commissioner's Desk: @ASUN_Football Update" (Press release). ASUN Conference. February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
- ^ "FCS college football 2021: AQ7 preview". KRQE. Stats Perform. August 20, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ Herder, Sam (August 9, 2021). "Predicting The 2021 FCS Playoff Bracket". herosports.com. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ "South Carolina State will take on Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl". Twitter. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ Thompson, Khari (December 18, 2021). "Jackson State football crushed by South Carolina State in Celebration Bowl: Our top takeaways". Mississippi Clarion Ledger. Retrieved December 18, 2021 – via Yahoo! News.
- ^ "2021 FCS Football Official Bracket". NCAA.org. November 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
- ^ "'Herd' It Before: North Dakota State is Unanimous No. 1 in Final Stats Perform FCS Top 25". The Analyst. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
- ^ "[FCS Poll] North Dakota State ends 2021 at No. 1 in the AFCA Top 25". AFCA. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
- ^ Harper, Mark (May 7, 2021). "Roger Hughes, Stetson's football coach, has a new job: president at his alma mater". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "Hunt Stepping Down, Dakosty Named Interim". Colgate University Athletics. May 17, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ^ "Collins Announces Departure from LIU Football Program" (Press release). LIU Sharks. June 29, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
- ^ "Alabama State fires head football coach Donald Hill-Eley after fourth consecutive loss to rival Alabama A&M". ESPN.com. Associated Press. November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
- ^ Stephenson, Creg (November 6, 2021). "John Grass steps down as head football coach at Jacksonville State". AL.com. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ "Grambling State fires Broderick Fobbs after seven seasons". hbcusports.com. November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
- ^ Hefferman, Todd (November 10, 2021). "Western Illinois moving on from football coach Jared Elliott". The Southern Illinoisan. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ McDonald, Ryan (November 15, 2021). "This Utah college football team is now looking for a new head coach". Deseret News. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
- ^ Wiebe, Stephan (November 18, 2021). "Petrino out as Idaho football coach". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
- ^ Barnett, Zach (November 21, 2021). "Abilene Christian announces coaching change". footballscoop.com. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
- ^ Moon, Eric (November 21, 2021). "Rob Phenicie fired as Idaho State Football Head Coach after five seasons". KIFI-TV. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
- ^ "Lafayette Athletics Announces Head Football Coaching Change". goleopards.com. November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ "Alabama State names alum, NFL veteran as next head football coach". WSFA. November 26, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ Barnett, Zach (November 28, 2021). "Jim Mora piecing UConn staff together". footballscoop.com. Football Scoop. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
- ^ McAneny, DJ (November 29, 2021). "Rocco out as University of Delaware football coach". wdel.com. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
- ^ Tresolini, Kevin (December 10, 2021). "Ex-Blue Hens QB Carty named University of Delaware football coach". Delaware News-Journal.
- ^ Rittenberg, Adam (November 29, 2021). "Jacksonville State hires Rich Rodriguez as head football coach ahead of 2023 FBS move". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ^ Riggone, Bella (November 30, 2021). "Jeff Voris resigns as Butler football head coach". thebutlercollegian.com. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ^ "Coach Mac Retires". unhwildcats.com. December 1, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ^ "Presbyterian's no-punt coach Kelley resigns after 1 season". apnews.com. December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ "Washington State football team hiring Eric Morris as offensive coordinator, Clay McGuire as offensive line coach". The Spokesman-Review. December 5, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- ^ "Frank Wilson's LSU contract terms: A three-year deal as associate head football coach". The Advocate. December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- ^ a b Robinson, Perry (December 7, 2021). "Eric Dooley officially introduced as the new football coach at Southern University". KPLC. NBC News. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- ^ "Grambling State Tabs Hue Jackson as Head Football Coach". GSU Tigers. December 10, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
- ^ "Randy Sanders announces retirement from football". ETSU Athletics. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- ^ "Long Island University hires Ron Cooper as football coach". ESPN.com. Associated Press. January 4, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
- ^ Wiseman, Steve (January 4, 2022). "Mike Elko to add Eastern Illinois head coach, Giants assistant to Duke football staff". The News & Observer. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
- ^ DiLalla, Aric (January 4, 2022). "Broncos name Tyrone Wheatley as running backs coach". Denver Broncos. Retrieved May 7, 2022.