Friday Night Lights
From FCS to FBS: What the newcomers jump means.
Both teams had to pay the piper to get the job done. NDSU has paid the MWC $12.5 million as well as the NCAA $5 million transition fee, and Sac State paid the MAC $18 million to enter, as well as the five million NCAA charge. This is a serious investment requiring a serious motivation to make progress fast. NDSU is opening its first FBS season with a bout against Jacksonville State on August 29th at the Fargodome, and a few weeks later will host none other than the fellow newcomer Sacramento State in what will be an extremely exciting matchup. The biggest hiccup for the year is that neither team will be considered bowl eligible or eligible for the college football playoff until the year 2028 due to the standard 2-year transition period. So until then, the next two years will be about proving these teams belong (or don’t) and building a lasting culture. If history is used as a reference, betting against the Bison is not a good idea. And surely Sac State is eager to prove the same.
The landscape of College Football just got a bit more interesting. Two decorated programs of the FCS, North Dakota State and Sacramento State, are making a big leap to the Football Subdivision in 2026, and the CFB world is anxiously awaiting their adjustment to the jump. NDSU has officially joined the Mountain West Conference as a football-only member, where it will have eight conference opponents as well as four non- conference games. The Bison bring along a legacy that makes them the most deserving of the promotion on paper, including 10 National Championships, a history of beating FBS teams, and even a 27-ranked AP poll rating in 2016, the highest ever for an FCS team. Conversely, Sac State was recently accepted into the Mid-American Conference as a football-only member, a move the school’s president has openly encouraged FCS teams to do, saying that the move is smart and time sensitive.
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8 Estrella Publishing - Up The Hill magazine
April 2026
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