FBS schedules keep leaning on FCS, only 13 teams opt out in 2026
Only 13 of 138 FBS teams will skip an FCS opponent in 2026, and USC is still the lone program that has never played one.
FBS programs are leaning on FCS opponents again, and the numbers are too big to shrug off. Only 13 of the 138 FBS teams will not play an FCS school in 2026, a reminder that these matchups are not an oddity at the edge of the sport. USC stands alone as the only FBS program that has never played an FCS opponent, and that fact now sits inside a season that will be the 49th since Division I split into I-A and I-AA.
That matters because FCS games are not just inventory. They are money, exposure and a measuring stick rolled into one. NCAA financial data updated in December 2025 showed institutional and government support made up 58% of median revenue for FCS programs in 2023-24, which is exactly why a guarantee game can matter so much to a school’s budget. It also helps explain why the cross-division pipeline keeps humming: one 2025 scheduling preview said there were more than 120 FCS-vs.-FBS games that year, and a 2026 tracker put the total at 127.
The football side is real too. FCS teams beat FBS opponents six times in 2024, proof that these games still carry upset heat even when the favorite writes the check. Since NCAA rule changes in 2022 made it easier for FBS teams to count FCS wins toward bowl eligibility, the matchups have only become more useful to Power programs trying to manage their schedules without adding too much danger. That helps explain why the FCS is both a competitive subdivision and a scheduling partner for the sport’s biggest brands.
The history runs deep enough to make the routine feel almost permanent. Division I-AA was created in January 1978, the first championship came that December, and the subdivision was renamed FCS in 2006. The NCAA now lists 128 FCS members that play a bracketed postseason, while the FBS keeps feeding on the lower-division calendar every fall.
USC’s no-FCS streak is the trivia answer that jumps out, but the broader point is bigger than one school. When 125 of 138 FBS teams are still willing to line up an FCS opponent, the subdivision is not a side market. It is part of the sport’s core economic and competitive structure, and the 2026 schedule once again proves it.
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