What Programs in Division II Are Seriously Looking At Jumping Up to FCS

[u/GreenHornetsNest]

This has been talked about before I would imagine, but the move of North Dakota State to the Mountain West and Sacramento State to the MAC among others has really opened this conversation about D-II teams making the move up to fill in slots being a lot more serious than it was before. It's clear that FCS programs who have the ability to compete at the BCS level will be watching these two with how they've gone about it with the football member only status and whether or not that's a viable path going forward. If this is the route is proven viable and teams in the FCS that have either been stalwarts or have been quick risers with the funds to FBS start making the jump up, programs from D-II would have to get the call to take those slots. Which leads me to wonder the following: which programs in D-II are seriously weighing up making that next move? One name that comes to my mind would be West Texas A&M. They were a former Division I program back in the day and had a bowl record of 4-0 in D1 before going down to D2 in 1986, and while they have a winning percentage under .500 since 2016, they are a program with a solid history. Another candidate I immediately think of is Ferris State, the winners of four out of the last five D2 College Football National Titles, with an undefeated season of 16-0 under their belt and riding a 30 game winning streak since 2024 and a winning percentage of 90%. Most of that has happened under their current head coach Tony Annese, who has been on record saying he's satisfied with his program being in D2. Still...which universities do you think will try and strike while the iron is hot and there are voids to fill at the FCS level?

[u/LightningStrike99]

Late to the party, but Minnesota State's investment of $60M is probably a play to get an invite to the Summit League. Say the conference loses Omaha, Kansas City, maybe Oral Roberts to the MVC, Horizon and/or WAC, and NDSU and SDSU take all their sports to the Mountain West, the Summit would HAVE to dial the phone or fold. If the Dakotas also get Big Sky invites and St Thomas also goes to the Horizon league, I would say the door gets closed on the Mavericks.