Part of The Analyst’s FCS college football series called “By the Numbers,” which analyzes data to help tell the story of the Football Championship Subdivision. It’s been 30 years since the annual NFL Draft was decreased to seven rounds, but that lucky seventh round has been a special place for FCS-level players. The final round was perhaps changed forever in 2022 when an FBS quarterback, Iowa State’s Brock Purdy, was chosen last – a draft pick affectionally celebrated as “Mr. Irrelevant” – but has gone from underdog to being as much of an NFL standout as many first-round picks. The most-recent ..read more

FCS quarterbacks have never filled the annual NFL Draft in big numbers, but there have been plenty of splashes and success stories. From Phil Simms to Steve McNair to Joe Flacco to many more. Since the 1979 NFL Draft was the first to involve FCS players, there have been 60 quarterback selections from the lower tier of NCAA Division I college football. None were taken in last year’s draft and none are expected to be selected in this year’s draft, which will be held from April 25-27 in Detroit. That’s never happened in consecutive drafts. While it’s too early for anybody to hit the panic button ..read more

There’s a well-received notion in sports that the top level will find a talented player no matter the level below. In FCS college football, sometimes the talented players are right there in plain sight, ready to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. It’s a select group since the FCS originated in 1978, with offensive linemen Trevor Penning (Northern Iowa) and Cole Strange (Chattanooga) becoming the 22nd and 23rd all-time first-rounders in the 2022 draft. The list includes a trio of schools with multiple first-rounders: Alcorn State and Jackson State with three each, and North Dakota ..read more

The push by HBCUs in recent years to get more NFL attention on their players seems to have merit – when considering the list of draft picks during their FCS era. Division I was split into the FCS (then called Division I-AA) and the FBS (then Division I-A) in 1978, and during their FCS era, the programs with the four-highest totals of NFL Draft selections – as well as eight of the top 15 – are HBCUs. This list is led by Jackson State, whose former coach, Deion Sanders, took the league to task on how the draft selections from HBCUs have fallen. Following are the 15 programs with the most draft s ..read more

The way South Dakota State won the last two national championships, it’s not surprising the Jackrabbits have one of FCS college football’s stronger classes of NFL Draft prospects in recent decades. NFL teams usually look to a school on the lower tier of Division I for quality – a standout player, perhaps two, who can transition from that draft class to the next level. Rarely do they also find the same quantity of prospects of many programs on the higher FBS level. South Dakota State is an exception heading toward the seven-round draft, April 25-27 in Detroit.  In many pre-draft rankings ..read more

There’s optimism, renewal and anticipation as college football programs welcome in spring practices across the nation. While each of the 128 programs has a clean slate prior to the 2024 FCS season, none can embrace its recent success quite like South Dakota State, which has captured back-to-back national championships and is riding a 29-game winning streak. The NCAA will allow up to 15 spring practices, often staggered over about five weeks, as teams begin to take important steps toward the 2024 FCS season. With the offseason work well underway, here are six burning questions across FCS nation ..read more

Dylan Laube is becoming more well known by the month. Metaphorically speaking, he’s a very talented hurdler. The sport he’s gaining more of a national reputation in is football – hurdling adversity every step of the way. Those who follow FCS college football have heard this story time and time again: Athlete isn’t highly recruited out of high school, athlete blossoms while at the FCS school he chose, athlete turns heads when the rare opportunity arises to impress others. It seems like players from the SEC or Big Ten get 10 strikes before they’re “out,” while FCS prospects seem to get one strik ..read more

The list of quarterbacks who have thrown for the most passing yards in an FCS game, season or career is in synch with the rich history of Walter Payton Award recipients. From Jamie Martin and Steve McNair in the early 1990s to NFL veterans Taylor Heinicke and Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2010s to prolific passers such as Devlin Hodges and Eric Barriere in recent years, the Payton, which is presented annually to the national offensive player of the year, features many of the best arms in FCS history. There are numerous other finalists on the all-time passing lists as well. Moving both in and out of t ..read more

Part of The Analyst’s FCS college football series called “By the Numbers,” which analyzes data to help tell the story of the Football Championship Subdivision. With all the retirements of FCS college football coaching legends that have come in recent years – and even in recent months – it begs the question: What active coaches are now the leaders for career wins in the NCAA’s Division I subdivision? Tim Murphy, for instance, had hit the 200-win mark at Harvard since returning to the level in 1994 after five seasons coaching in the FBS at Cincinnati (he also had been at Maine in the late 1980s ..read more

Selecting who are the best teams in FCS college football history is subjective, but those with the most wins in a season is a definitive way to build a case. The unbeaten teams of 1996 Marshall, 2013 and ’18 North Dakota State, and 2023 South Dakota State are regarded among the best – all 15-0 and dominant. But those teams didn’t have the most wins in an FCS season – that distinction belongs to the 2019 NDSU squad which went 16-0 behind freshman quarterback Trey Lance. The most wins among unbeaten teams in an FCS season: 16-0 – 2019 North Dakota State 15-0 – 1989 Georgia Southern; 1996 Marsh ..read more