Harman Patil (Editor)

2009 NCAA Division I FCS football season

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Duration
  
August – November

Buchanan Award
  
Arthur Moats

Location
  
United States of America

Payton Award
  
Armanti Edwards

Start date
  
2009

End date
  
December 18, 2009

Duration
  
November 28 – December 18

Championship site
  
Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, TN

Champion
  
Villanova Wildcats football

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2008 NCAA Division I FCS football season

The 2009 NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) football season, part of the college football season, began in August 2009 and concluded with the national championship game on December 18, 2009, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, won by Villanova 23–21 over Montana.

Contents

Rule changes for 2009

The NCAA football rules committee proposed several rule changes for 2009. Before these rules were officially adopted, the proposals had to be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel. The rule changes include the following:

  • If the home team wears colored jerseys, the visiting team may also wear colored jerseys; so long as the two teams have agreed to do so.
  • If the punter carries the ball outside of the tackle box, he is no longer protected under the roughing the kicker penalty.
  • Deliberately grabbing the chin strap is now included as part of the face mask penalty.
  • The edge of the tackle box is defined as being 5 yards to the left and right of the snapper, rather than 2 parallel lines from the position of the offensive tackles.

    • FCS team wins over FBS teams

    In the 2009 season, FCS teams played a total of 91 games against FBS opponents. Notably, four of the five victorious FCS teams—all except Central Arkansas—were members of the Colonial Athletic Association. All four made that season's playoffs and advanced to the quarterfinals. Richmond lost in that round to Appalachian State, while Villanova defeated both New Hampshire (quarterfinals) and William & Mary (semifinals) on its way to the national title.

  • September 3 – Villanova 27, Temple 24
  • September 5 – William & Mary 26, Virginia 14
  • September 5 – Richmond 24, Duke 16
  • September 12 – New Hampshire 23, Ball State 16
  • September 19 – Central Arkansas 28, Western Kentucky 7

    • Notable upsets

  • August 27 – Quincy 26, Indiana State 20 OT (Division II over Division I FCS)
  • September 5 – Arkansas-Monticello 27, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3 (Division II over Division I FCS)
  • September 5 – Shaw 20, Bethune-Cookman 6 (Division II over Division I FCS)
  • September 5 – Saint Joseph's (IN) 31, Valparaiso 6 (Division II over Division I FCS non-scholarship)
  • September 5 – Stonehill 45, Wagner 42 (Division II over Division I FCS)
  • September 12 – Birmingham-Southern 35, Campbell 28 OT (Division III over Division I FCS non-scholarship)
  • September 12 – Lenoir-Rhyne 42, Davidson 0 (Division II over Division I FCS non-scholarship)
  • September 12 – Urbana 13, Dayton 10 (Division II over Division I FCS non-scholarship)
  • September 26 – Carthage 34, Valparaiso 24 (Division III over Division I FCS non-scholarship)
  • September 26 – Concordia (AL) 23, Savannah State 21 (USCAA over Division I FCS)
  • September 26 – Central Washington 33, Idaho State 22 (Division II over Division I FCS)
  • October 17 – Sioux Falls 28, North Dakota 13 (NAIA over Division I FCS)
  • November 14 – Webber International 35, Savannah State 20 (NAIA over Division I FCS)
  • November 26 – Tuskegee 21, Alabama State 0 (Division II over Division I FCS)

    • Dropped programs

    After Northeastern's final game of the season, a 33–27 win over Rhode Island on November 21, the school announced that it was dropping the football program. The Huskies ended their 74th season with a 3–8 record, but school officials cited that losing seasons were not the determining factor.

    On December 3, Hofstra also announced that it was dropping their football program in favor of academic funding. The football team, which finished the season 5–6 after a 52–38 win over Massachusetts, ended their program after 73 years.

    The Colonial Athletic Association, where both teams played, decided to replace the two teams with new programs at Old Dominion and Georgia State in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Old Dominion started its program during the 2009 season; Georgia State started theirs in 2010.

    Eastern Illinois coach's death

    On Saturday, November 28, just hours after Eastern Illinois lost to Southern Illinois 48–7 in the first round of the FCS playoffs, Eastern Illinois' offensive coordinator Jeffrey O. Hoover, age 41, was killed in a car accident. The single-vehicle accident occurred south of Effingham when Hoover, his family and EIU strength coach Eric Cash struck a deer while driving home from Carbondale, the home of SIU.

    Hoover's death was the second Eastern Illinois coaching death within a month. On November 4, assistant women's basketball coach Jackie Moore, 28, died after collapsing during a workout on campus.

    Automatic berths

  • Big Sky Conference – Montana
  • Colonial Athletic Association – Villanova
  • Missouri Valley Football Conference – Southern Illinois
  • Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State
  • Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Illinois (Jacksonville State had the best record in conference play, but was not eligible for the FCS playoffs because of APR violations.)
  • Patriot League – Holy Cross
  • Southern Conference – Appalachian State
  • Southland Conference – Stephen F. Austin

    • Invitation

  • Great West Conference – UC Davis
  • Big South Conference – Liberty and Stony Brook, co-champions
  • Northeast Conference – Central Connecticut State
  • Pioneer Football League – Butler and Dayton, co-champions; Butler received the conference's berth in the Gridiron Classic.

    • In order to be eligible for the playoffs, these teams must have a minimum of eight Division I wins, with at least two against teams in automatic bid conferences. They also must be ranked an average of 16 or better in the national rankings, made up of the following components:

  • The Sports Network media poll
  • The FCS Coaches poll
  • A variation of the Gridiron Power Index, using only five of the computer rankings used in that system

    • No team in the invitational conferences qualified. Starting in 2010, the Big South and NEC will become automatic bid conferences with the expansion of the playoff field to 20 teams.

    Abstains

  • Ivy League – Penn (8–2, 7–0)
  • Southwestern Athletic Conference – Prairie View A&M (9–1, 7–0)

    • (Overall Record, Conference Record)

    NCAA FCS Playoff bracket

    * Host institution

    Gridiron Classic

    The Gridiron Classic is an annual game between the champions of the Northeast Conference and the Pioneer Football League that has been held since December 2006.

    References

    2009 NCAA Division I FCS football season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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