The FCS Playoffs 2023 are set to kickoff on Saturday with eight first-round games. The action begins at 1:00pm Eastern with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks hosting the Sacramento State Hornets.
The FCS Playoff Schedule continues at 2:00pm ET with two games, which includes the Lafayette Leopards at the Delaware Blue Hens and North Carolina Central Eagles at Richmond Spiders.
Three FCS playoff matchups are slated to kickoff at 3:00pm ET. Those matchups include the Chattanooga Mocs at the Austin Peay Governors, Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs at Mercer Bears, and Nicholls Colonels at Southern Illinois Salukis.
Next up, the North Dakota State Bison play host to the Drake Bulldogs at 3:30pm ET.
The first-round of the 2023 FCS Playoffs concludes with one contest at 5:00pm, which features the Duquesne Dukes traveling to take on the Youngstown State Penguins.
All first and second-round FCS Playoff matchups this season will be streamed live via ESPN+.
Winners of the first-round contests will advance to the second-round where they will play at one of the top eight seeds. The top eight seeds, listed below, each received a first-round bye:
1. South Dakota State
2. Montana
3. South Dakota
4. Idaho
5. UAlbany
6. Montana State
7. Furman
8. Villanova
Below is the complete schedule for the first two rounds of the 2023 FCS Playoffs:
FIRST-ROUND GAMES (NOV. 25)
*All games ET and streaming via ESPN+.
Sac State 42, North Dakota 35
Lafayette 34, Delaware 36
NC Central 27, Richmond 49
Chattanooga 24, Austin Peay 21
Gardner-Webb 7, Mercer 17
Nicholls 0, Southern Illinois 35
Drake 3, NDSU 66
Duquesne 7, Youngstown State 40
SECOND-ROUND GAMES (DEC. 2)
*All games ET and streaming via ESPN+.
Youngstown State at (8) Villanova – 12pm
Richmond at (5) UAlbany – 12pm
Chattanooga at (7) Furman – 1pm
Mercer at (1) South Dakota State – 2pm
Sac State at (3) South Dakota – 2pm
NDSU at (6) Montana State – 3pm
Delaware at (2) Montana – 9pm
Southern Illinois at (4) Idaho – 10pm (ESPN2)
The FCS Championship Game for the 2023 season is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. The game will be nationally televised by ABC at 2:00pm ET.
FCS Playoff Bracket (PDF)
The play-in Round is now ovah.
The bloodied, confident, Franchises which have overcome regular Season downs are peaking @ the appropiate Time.
Examples: CSU Sacramento Hornets & SIUC Salukis, Youngstown SU Penguins, UT Moccasins.
The Top 8 Seeds get to flex on December 2nd, or not.
We’ll see.
The sweet 16 of the Playoffs = here!