FCS Playoffs 2026: Selection Sunday, Round Dates and the Jan. 11 Title Game in Nashville

The 2026 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs start with the bracket reveal on Sunday, Nov. 22 and end with the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 11, 2027, at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on ESPN, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The 24-team bracket has 23 games in all, and the title game comes 50 days after Selection Sunday.

The NCAA has not named the field, so no team appears below. It also has not posted a selection show time or kickoff times for the first two rounds; game times are set after the bracket is out. This story lists what NCAA.com has published (its page showed an Oct. 28, 2026 update), converts the posted times to four U.S. zones and adds a one-page printable.

FCS playoffs 2026 schedule by round

Every date and network below comes from the NCAA’s playoff page, which says the bracket “will be revealed via a selection show on the ESPN Family of Networks and a selections release.” The weekdays are computed from the calendar.

Round	Date	Games	Network (per NCAA)
Selection Sunday	Sun., Nov. 22	Bracket reveal	ESPN Family of Networks
First round	Sat., Nov. 28	8	ESPN+
Second round	Sat., Dec. 5	8	ESPN+
Quarterfinals	Fri., Dec. 11 and Sat., Dec. 12	4	ESPN; Game 4 on ESPN+
Semifinals	Sat., Dec. 19	2	ABC and ESPN2
Championship	Mon., Jan. 11, 2027	1	ESPN

How does the 24-team FCS bracket work?

The NCAA says “The 2026-27 FCS playoffs consists of a 24-team bracket” and that “The top 16 teams are seeded, with the top eight seeds receiving automatic byes to the second round.” We did the arithmetic: 8 byes leave 16 teams, so the first round is 8 games. The second round then has 16 teams (the 8 bye teams and the 8 winners), which is 8 more games. Add 4 quarterfinals, 2 semifinals and the final: 8 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 23 games. The NCAA page’s bid counts are not used here.

What time are the FCS quarterfinals, semifinals and title game?

The NCAA lists these times in ET. We converted them to Central Time (CT, local in Nashville), Mountain Time (MT) and Pacific Time (PT) by subtracting one, two and three hours.

Game	Date	ET	CT	MT	PT	Network
Quarterfinal 1	Fri., Dec. 11	9 p.m.	8 p.m.	7 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Quarterfinal 2	Sat., Dec. 12	12 p.m.	11 a.m.	10 a.m.	9 a.m.	ESPN
Quarterfinal 3	Sat., Dec. 12	8 p.m.	7 p.m.	6 p.m.	5 p.m.	ESPN
Quarterfinal 4	Sat., Dec. 12	Not yet set				ESPN+
Semifinal 1	Sat., Dec. 19	4 p.m.	3 p.m.	2 p.m.	1 p.m.	ABC
Semifinal 2	Sat., Dec. 19	8 p.m.	7 p.m.	6 p.m.	5 p.m.	ESPN2
Championship	Mon., Jan. 11, 2027	7:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	5:30 p.m.	4:30 p.m.	ESPN

Where is the 2026 FCS championship game?

The NCAA says the game is “Monday, Jan. 11 at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.” The Nashville Sports Council, which announced the award in December 2024, said the 2026 and 2027 title games are at FirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University. That makes Nashville the host for a second straight season. The NCAA page links to NCAATickets.com for tickets and lists no prices.

Who won the last FCS championship?

Last season, Montana State beat Illinois State 35-34 in overtime on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Nashville, according to KWQC, which carried the Associated Press (AP) report, and Fox News, which headlined it the school’s first FCS national title since 1984. That was last season’s game; the 2026 field is not yet set.

Printable FCS playoffs 2026 watch guide

The one-page guide lists Selection Sunday and every round through Jan. 11 with times in four U.S. zones, prints the times the NCAA has not posted as not yet announced, and leaves lines to write in matchups after the bracket is out. Keep it next to the December 2026 printable calendar or a printable weekly calendar. For the rest of the college football postseason, see the college football bowl schedule, the conference championship games and the College Football Playoff rankings schedule. Dates and times can change; check NCAA.com.