FBS vs FCS Games

updated March 1, 2025

FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) college football teams generally schedule 12 regular season opponents, and sometimes play additional post-season games in conference championships, bowl matchups, and in the College Football Playoff to conclude the season. The vast majority of FBS games played are against fellow FBS opponents, but many teams also schedule one (or more) games against FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) opponents.

Since 2007, 98.5 percent of FBS teams have played at least one game against an FCS opponent. Two teams, Texas and USC, did not play an FCS opponent at any point in the span. In 2024, 119 of 134 FBS teams (88.8 percent) played at least one FCS opponent.

The majority of games played between FBS and FCS teams are non-competitive blowouts. FBS teams have significantly more program resources than FCS opponents, and games scheduled between the subdivisions are often penciled in as easy victories for the FBS teams long before kickoff. A total of 1,829 games were played between FBS and FCS teams since 2007 and 1,075 of them (58.8 percent) were decided by a final margin of victory of 25 or more points.

FBS Teams vs FCS Opponents						FBS Scoring			FBS Scoring Margin Distribution
Span	Teams	% FBS	Games	Record	Win %	PF	PA	PM	DW	SW	MW	NW	NL	ML	SL	DL
2007-24	133	.985	1,829	1,695-134	.927	42.9	14.1	28.8	.588	.144	.083	.114	.048	.009	.009	.007

Scoring data in the table above include the average points scored (PF) and allowed (PA) by FBS teams in the games, the average FBS scoring margin (PM), and the percentage of games resulting in a dominant win by the FBS team by 25 or more points (DW), a strong win by 17-24 points (SW), a moderate win by 9-16 points (MW), a narrow win by 1-8 points (NW), a narrow loss (NL), a moderate loss (ML), a strong loss (SL), or a dominant loss (DL).

Above average FBS teams, defined here as teams with a positive final FEI rating, have won 97.9 percent of games since 2007 against FCS opponents, with an average scoring margin of 36.2 points per game. Below average FBS teams have won 88.0 percent of games since 2007 against FCS opponents, with an average scoring margin of 22.4 points per game.

Note that this analysis does not consider variation in team strength among FCS opponents, and FEI ratings are produced from data that omit FCS game results entirely. Regardless, FBS teams that schedule FCS opponents expect to, and do, win these games consistently and comfortably.

Span	Teams	% FBS	Games	Record	Win %	PF	PA	PM	DW	SW	MW	NW	NL	ML	SL	DL
2007	78	.655	80	70-10	.875	39.4	14.5	24.9	.438	.250	.063	.125	.075	.025	.013	.013
2008	82	.683	87	85-2	.977	41.5	12.6	28.9	.563	.195	.115	.103	.011	.000	.011	.000
2009	87	.725	94	89-5	.947	40.9	11.8	29.1	.596	.138	.064	.149	.032	.011	.011	.000
2010	85	.708	90	83-7	.922	41.1	12.8	28.3	.589	.167	.056	.111	.078	.000	.000	.000
2011	93	.775	97	91-6	.938	43.0	14.8	28.2	.577	.206	.031	.124	.031	.010	.000	.021
2012	101	.815	108	98-10	.907	42.0	12.9	29.1	.620	.102	.093	.093	.046	.019	.028	.000
2013	106	.848	111	95-16	.856	42.9	15.6	27.3	.541	.090	.117	.108	.072	.027	.027	.018
2014	103	.805	108	100-8	.926	43.1	14.6	28.5	.583	.102	.093	.148	.065	.000	.009	.000
2015	102	.797	105	96-9	.914	45.3	14.6	30.7	.610	.143	.067	.095	.067	.010	.000	.010
2016	109	.852	113	103-10	.912	43.5	14.9	28.6	.593	.168	.071	.080	.080	.000	.009	.000
2017	98	.754	98	89-9	.908	42.2	14.7	27.6	.551	.143	.133	.082	.061	.010	.010	.010
2018	109	.838	112	105-7	.938	47.3	16.2	31.1	.643	.116	.080	.098	.045	.009	.009	.000
2019	109	.838	114	111-3	.974	43.0	13.9	29.1	.596	.114	.088	.175	.018	.000	.000	.009
2020	31	.244	36	34-2	.944	41.9	16.7	25.2	.500	.139	.111	.194	.000	.028	.000	.028
2021	116	.892	117	105-12	.897	42.0	14.5	27.5	.598	.111	.060	.128	.060	.017	.017	.009
2022	117	.893	120	112-8	.933	43.9	13.7	30.3	.650	.142	.050	.092	.033	.008	.008	.017
2023	117	.880	118	114-4	.966	42.9	13.3	29.6	.602	.153	.102	.110	.025	.000	.000	.008
2024	119	.888	121	115-6	.950	43.4	12.3	31.1	.612	.165	.074	.099	.041	.008	.000	.000