NCAA votes to grant FCS-to-FBS teams immediate eligibility for bowl games, College Football Playoff

Teams transitioning from FCS to FBS no longer will have to sit for two seasons before becoming immediately eligible for the postseason, the NCAA Division I Cabinet ruled Wednesday.

The move opens the door for FCS powerhouse North Dakota State to qualify for a bowl or perhaps the College Football Playoff in its first season in the FBS. The Bison, who won 10 FCS titles between 2011 and 2024, join the Mountain West this fall. Sacramento State also moved up from FCS to the Mid-American Conference and will have a chance at the postseason.

Previously, the only way a program transitioning from FCS to FBS could compete in a bowl game within two years was if there weren’t enough eligible teams. Last year, Missouri State and Delaware each earned bowl trips based on that technicality, as did Jacksonville State in 2023 and 2024.

Despite winning the 2022 Sun Belt East Division title, James Madison was the most recent team kept from a bowl during the transition process. James Madison filed a waiver to become eligible, but the NCAA denied it.

There are now 138 FBS programs eligible for the 41 bowl games, including six that compete in the College Football Playoff.

The Division I Cabinet also will allow a conference to choose one of its teams with a 5-7 record to participate in a bowl game if the league cannot fill its contracted commitments. The 5-7 team must post a minimum 930 multiyear Academic Progress Rate to be eligible.

In addition, the cabinet approved a standardized, 14-week FBS schedule. Every team will have two bye weeks, and the season wraps up Thanksgiving weekend, except for conference championships and the Army-Navy game.

Discussions also began about changing tampering rules to allow some contact between coaches and representatives of an athlete before a transfer-portal window opens. An early-stage concept would be creating a short time period ahead of a sport’s transfer-portal window for permissible contact.

Proponents of altering tampering rules and allowing some contact before the portal opens say it will benefit athletes and help them make more informed decisions about whether to enter the portal.