FCS teams will face FBS teams 114 times during the 2019 college football season. That's 114 opportunities to add to their all-time win total and 114 opportunities and produce interesting numbers to chew on.
Since Division-I college football split into the FCS and FBS (then Division I-A and Division I-AA) in 1978, an FCS team has defeated an FBS team on 189 occasions.
Here are 21 fascinating numbers from those 189 wins:
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38
At least one FCS team has defeated an FBS team in 38 of the 41 seasons since 1978. Seasons without an FCS-over-FBS win: 1980, 1993 and 1997.
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2000
FCS teams recorded 14 wins from 1991-99. Fourteen total wins over nine years, or 1.6 per year.
In 2000, they won 16 games, five of which were won by at least 10 points, including two 20-point victories: Southwest Texas State beat UL Monroe, 27-7, and Portland State beat Hawai'i, 45-20.
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79
Seventy-nine different FCS teams have defeated at least one FBS team.
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9
The average margin of victory: Nine points.
Sixty-six games were won by at least nine points, while 123 were won by fewer than eight points. Median margin of victory: Six points. Mode: Three points.
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117
One hundred and seventeen wins were decided by seven points or fewer, including five of the seven wins last season.
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18
Eighteen of the 189 wins, or nearly 10 percent, came by one point.
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5
FCS teams have pitched five shutouts, though none have come in the last 12 seasons. Most recent shutout: Richmond beat Duke, 13-0, in 2006. The largest margin of victory in a shutout: Northeastern smoked Ohio, 31-0, in 2002.
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4
Four FCS teams won despite scoring fewer than 10 points, including North Dakota State in their 6-3 win over Kansas in 2010.
Others who failed to score 10 points: Maine (9-7 over Mississippi State in 2004), Illinois State (9-7 over Northwestern in 2016), and Eastern Washington (8-5 over Idaho in 2003).
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59
Two FCS wins have come by at least 40 points: Western Illinois beat Coastal Carolina, 52-10, in 2017, and Portland State beat North Texas, 66-7, in 2015.
Portland State's 59-point demolition is the largest margin of victory in an FCS-over-FBS win.
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7
With their 59-point loss to Portland State in 2015, North Texas became the seventh team to be on the winning and losing end of an FCS vs. FBS game. North Texas, as an FCS team, had four FBS wins from 1985-88.
Other teams who've been on both ends: App State, Georgia Southern, Holy Cross, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, South Florida and UConn.
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6
Five weeks before Portland State throttled North Texas, the Vikings beat Washington State. With both wins, they became the sixth FCS team to win two FBS games in the same season. It's only been done twice in the last 25 years (North Dakota State, 2007).
Other four teams: UMass (1978), Cincinnati (1983), North Texas (1988), The Citadel (1992).
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8
Two FCS teams lead with FBS wins: North Dakota State and Northern Iowa.
Following behind: App State (seven), The Citadel (seven) Furman (six), Montana (six), New Hampshire (six), Northwestern State (six) and Richmond (six).
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11
There are 11 active FBS teams who, prior to leaving the FCS, defeated at least one FBS team. A 12th team, Idaho, joined the FBS after an FCS win (1984) before returning to the FCS.
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26
There were only seven FCS-over-FBS wins last season, tied for the fewest since 2012. However, it was the fifth consecutive year with at least seven wins, the longest streak ever. And the seven wins bumped the three-year total to 26 victories, tied for the second-highest three-year total since 2003.
Highest three-year total in history: Thirty-two wins from 2000-2002.
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4
The Citadel defeated four FBS teams from 1990-92, the most wins for any FCS team over a three-year period. They won the four games by a total of 17 points.
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11
Army hasn't lost to an FCS team since 2015 but they still lead all FBS teams with 11 FCS losses. They're the only team with more than seven losses.
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7
Kansas State lost to North Dakota State, 24-21, in 2013, their seventh all-time FCS loss, the most among Power Five teams. Wake Forest, Iowa State and Oregon State are close behind with six losses apiece.
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6
Wake Forest has lost six games to FCS teams.
Correction: Wake Forest has lost six games to an FCS team. Six losses to one single FCS team.
App State defeated Wake Forest six times, the most wins over the same opponent. All six wins came between 1983-2000. They also played a tie game in 1988.
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2
Only one active FBS team has a losing streak vs. FCS teams: East Carolina. The Pirates lost to James Madison in 2017 and North Carolina A&T in 2018.
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6
Six FCS teams needed at least one overtime to beat an FBS team, including North Carolina A&T, who outlasted Kent State, 39-36, in four overtimes in 2016.
Only two Power Five teams have lost overtime games to FCS teams: Ole Miss (vs. Jacksonville State, 2010), and Kansas (vs. Nicholls, 2018).
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4
There have been four FCS vs. FBS ties, all of which occurred between 1983-88 and all of which involved an active Power Five team.
