The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) has been granted an automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs this spring.
“I would like to thank the FCS Commissioners, Football Championship Committee and the Football Oversight Committee for supporting the MEAC’s automatic qualifier (AQ) status and I am excited for our student-athletes and coaches to participate in the FCS playoffs,” MEAC Commissioner Dennis E. Thomas said. “Furthermore, the MEAC is primed to make history this spring with its first-ever championship game and it is exciting to make that sort of history in our 50th Anniversary.”
This follows a report of a return to the FCS playoffs by the MEAC earlier this week.
The first-ever MEAC championship game will be held the weekend of April 16-18. Since the conference’s first season in 1971 the championship has been decided via regular season record.
The FCS playoff field will be reduced from 24 teams to 16, with selection happening Sunday, April 18. The first round would take place the weekend of April 24, followed by quarterfinals the weekend of May 1 and semifinals the weekend of May 8.
The FCS Championship game will be held May 14, 15 or 16.
With the MEAC’s automatic bid, the number of automatic bids increases from 10 to 11, with the five other playoff slots going to at-large teams.
Teams can play up to eight regular-season games across a 13-week period in the spring, ending with the weekend of April 16-18.
