{"id":960443,"date":"2026-07-26T13:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/960443\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T13:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:35:13","slug":"mcfeely-fcs2fbs-series-bison-join-former-top-level-fcs-rivals-in-move-to-fbs-inforum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/960443\/","title":{"rendered":"McFeely FCS2FBS series: Bison join former top-level FCS rivals in move to FBS – InForum"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This is the first in a series of columns from The Forum’s Mike McFeely looking at some of North Dakota State’s former rivals in FCS who’ve moved up to the higher-level FBS. NDSU joined the Mountain West Conference this year and will play its first season in FBS beginning Aug. 29 against Jacksonville State.)<\/p>\n

FARGO \u2014 They won\u2019t say it out loud for fear of diminishing a subdivision North Dakota State dominated for 15 years, but there was a growing sense among Bison administrators and coaches that the Football Championship Subdivision they joined in 2004 was long gone and never to return again.<\/p>\n

The ultra-successful, football-focused schools from the early days \u2014 Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, James Madison, Sam Houston \u2014 had all left FCS to move up a level to the Football Bowl Subdivision. At the same time, the NCAA Division II schools joining FCS \u2014 North Alabama, West Georgia, Long Island, Chicago State, New Haven \u2014 had no chance of truly replacing the dearly departed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like the end of our Division II days, when everybody was leaving for I-AA,\u201d an NDSU administrator told me a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Add in the backslide of once-powerful FCS programs like Northern Iowa and Eastern Washington and the top of the subdivision was reduced to essentially a handful of programs from three contiguous states in the middle of the country \u2014 North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. The excitement (or glamor if you want to use that word) of playing Division I football in every corner of the country for a national championship was gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a major seismic shift taking place. The best FCS teams were all getting out and if they hadn\u2019t got out already, they wanted to get out,\u201d former Sam Houston and current Temple head coach K.C. Keeler told me in a recent interview, explaining why he eventually came around to supporting the Bearkats\u2019 move from FCS to FBS.<\/p>\n

\"081026.S.FF.FBSmoveWEB.jpg\"<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the only reason NDSU made the very expensive decision to accept an invitation to the FBS Mountain West Conference in February, a football-only move that became official July 1, but it was a factor.<\/p>\n

Most of their peers at the top of FCS, the ones that provided the best challenges and memories both in the regular season and playoffs, were gone. The Bison were Will Smith in that famous meme from the end of the popular television series \u201cThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air\u201d \u2014 a guy looking around an empty room after everybody else moved out.<\/p>\n

Including NDSU, 22 FCS programs moved to FBS since the Bison went Division I in 2004. Other successful football programs like Boise State (1996), Marshall (West Virginia) and Troy (Alabama) moved before that.<\/p>\n

\"BISONSEMIS2011JENSEN.JPG\"<\/p>\n

North Dakota State quarterback Brock Jensen runs up the middle against Georgia Southern on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, during the NCAA Division I FCS semifinals at the Fargodome. <\/p>\n

David Samson \/ The Forum<\/p>\n

While not all the programs that moved up were powerhouses, the numbers outline the quality that drained from FCS.<\/p>\n

There have been 48 national champions crowned in FCS (called Division I-AA before 2006) since the subdivision started in 1978. Twenty-nine of those titles now reside in FBS, including the 10 won by NDSU.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a large pile of playoff appearances, wins and championships among the programs that left FCS since 2004:<\/p>\n