The 2022 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 IFootball Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The regular season is scheduled to begin on August 27 and end on November 19. The postseason will begin on November 26, and, aside from any all-star games that are scheduled, end on January 7, 2023, with the at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
In addition to the listed membership changes, one current FCS member will change its institutional identity before the 2022 season. Dixie State University will change its name to Utah Tech University on July 1, 2022. The athletic nickname will remain Trailblazers.
Future membership changes[]
On February 22, 2022, the Big South Conference and Ohio Valley Conference announced that they would merge their football leagues effective in 2023. Certain key details of the merger—specifically, whether the merged league would be run by the Big South or OVC, or become a separate entity—were not announced at that time.[1]
The same day also saw North Carolina A&T announce it would leave the Big South to join the Colonial Athletic Association. A&T's non-football sports will join the CAA on July 1, 2022, while football will join the technically separate entity of CAA Football in 2023.[2]
Rule changes[]
The following rule changes were recommended by the NCAA Football Rules Committee for the 2022 season.[3]
When players are disqualified for a targeting call in the second half or in overtime (which requires a carryover penalty of sitting out the first half of the next scheduled game), an appeals process will be available to allow the National Coordinator of Officials (currently Steve Shaw) to review tapes of the targeting penalty for consideration of not requiring the player to sit out the first half of the following game.
Injury timeouts awarded due to "deceptive actions" during a game will also be able to reviewed by the National Coordinator of Officials to determine what sanctions, if any, against teams who use this tactic, enforced at the conference or school level.
Blocking below the waist will only be permitted inside the tackle box by lineman and stationary backs. Blocks below the waist outside of the tackle box are not allowed.
Defensive holding will remain a 10-yard penalty but will always carry an automatic first down.
Codifying the rule change made shortly after the 2021 ACC Championship Game, ball carriers who simulate a feet-first slide will be declared down at that spot.
Uniform rules would require the sock/leg covering to go from the shoe to the bottom of the pants, similar to the NFL rule.
Other headlines[]
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Kickoff games[]
"Week Zero"[]
The regular season will begin on Saturday, August 27 with eight games in Week 0.
FCS Kickoff (Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, Alabama): Stephen F. Austin vs. Jacksonville State
* – Ineligible for FCS playoffs due to transition from Division II
As of March 29, 2022; Rankings from
Coaching changes[]
Preseason and in-season[]
This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2022, and will include any changes announced after a team's last regularly scheduled games but before its playoff games . For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2022, see 2021 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.
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