Hillsdale, ND St., Montreal Among Top 200 Non-FBS Schools

The ranks of Historically Black Colleges, Junior Colleges, Canadian Football, and lower NCAA divisions field a number of football teams that would likely win some games if they were able to play FBS schools. A list of the top-200 non-FBS schools below includes conservative bastion Hillsdale, which took a stand against racism in the 1950s by refusing a bowl bid based on discrimination.

North Dakota State’s continued dominance of FBS schools indicates they would probably win about 78% of their games at the FBS-level, good enough to be ranked 24th in the country and a clear No. 1 among non-FBS schools. ESPN Game Day chose Fargo for their broadcast in recognition of the non-FBS powerhouse.

The numbers by each school indicate their rank among the top 200 non-FBS schools, where they would rank in a top 100 of FBS schools, as well as the likely average score and winning percentage if they played an all-FBS schedule.

Yale (108th) will try to pull an upset against Army, and Eastern Illinois (16) is actually a slight favorite again Ohio, in the only two games scheduled by FBS schools this week against lower divisions. FBS schools no longer play any lower level except for FCS schools, due to being penalized in NCAA rankings, but many schools from these ranks would likely be able to win some of those games.

Hillsdale was invited to the 1956 Tangerine Bowl, now called the Citrus Bowl, but refused to play because the Bowl officials would not allow their black players to participate. A separate posts details the indicators on why the top-10 teams would likely do well against an FBS opponent.

More than 500 other non-FBS schools did not make this Top 200.

non-FBS	if FBS	Team if played vs. FBS	Level	Off	Def	W%
1	24	N Dakota St	FCS	30	19	78%
2	63	Villanova	FCS	28	27	52%
3	63	Missouri St	FCS	32	31	52%
4	63	McNeese St	FCS	33	32	52%
5	66	E Washington	FCS	32	33	48%
6	70	Northern Iowa	FCS	28	30	46%
7	70	NW Missouri	NCAA II	28	30	46%
8	71	Youngstown St	FCS	29	31	46%
9	75	Laval	Canada	28	31	43%
10	79	Col San Mateo	JUCO	28	33	39%
11	80	S Illinois	FCS	26	31	38%
12	81	Illinois St	FCS	26	31	38%
13	83	S Dakota St	FCS	28	34	37%
14	87	Coastal Car	FCS	29	38	33%
15	89	MN Mankato	NCAA II	26	35	31%
16	90	E Illinois	FCS	29	40	30%
17	90	SE Louisiana	FCS	25	35	30%
18	93	Jacksonville St	FCS	26	36	29%
19	94	William & Mary	FCS	22	32	27%
20	94	Indiana St	FCS	24	34	27%
21	98	Chattanooga	FCS	22	33	26%
22	99	New Hampshire	FCS	25	37	26%
23	99	Towson	FCS	24	36	26%
24	99	E Kentucky	FCS	23	35	26%
25	99	South Dakota	FCS	23	35	25%
26	99	Liberty	FCS	25	38	24%
27	99	Calgary	Canada	26	39	24%
28		Pittsburg St	NCAA II	23	36	24%
29		Cent Arkansas	FCS	25	39	24%
30		Montreal	Canada	21	33	23%
31		Sam Houston St	FCS	27	41	23%
32		City Col San Fran	JUCO	25	40	23%
33		W Illinois	FCS	22	34	23%
34		Samford	FCS	25	40	22%
35		Northwestern LA	FCS	25	40	22%
36		Montana St	FCS	26	41	22%
37		Northern Arizona	FCS	22	36	21%
38		Harvard	FCS	25	40	21%
39		North Alabama	NCAA II	24	40	21%
40		CSU-Pueblo	NCAA II	24	39	20%
41		Cal Poly SLO	FCS	21	36	20%
42		MN Duluth	NCAA II	22	37	20%
43		Richmond	FCS	23	39	20%
44		West Alabama	NCAA II	26	44	19%
45		Fordham	FCS	25	43	19%
46		Montana	FCS	21	36	19%
47		Tennessee St	HBCU	19	33	19%
48		TN Martin	FCS	24	41	19%
49		Butte Col	JUCO	23	39	19%
50		Maine	FCS	21	37	18%
51		Henderson St	NCAA II	26	45	18%
52		Citadel	FCS	21	37	18%
53		Bethune-Cookman	HBCU	21	37	18%
54		James Madison	FCS	23	41	18%
55		S Carolina St	HBCU	20	36	17%
56		Mt San Antonio	JUCO	22	40	17%
57		Furman	FCS	19	34	17%
58		Sioux Falls	NCAA II	23	42	17%
59		American River	JUCO	21	39	17%
60		Delaware	FCS	24	43	16%
61		C Missouri	NCAA II	22	40	16%
62		OH Dominican	NCAA II	22	40	16%
63		Portland St	FCS	24	45	16%
64		Lenoir Rhyne	NCAA II	21	39	16%
65		UC Davis	FCS	21	39	16%
66		Midwest TX St	NCAA II	23	43	16%
67		SF Austin	FCS	26	48	16%
68		Ferris St	NCAA II	24	45	16%
69		CS Sacramento	FCS	24	46	16%
70		NC A&T	HBCU	20	37	16%
71		Harding	NCAA II	22	41	16%
72		Wofford	FCS	22	42	15%
73		Southern Utah	FCS	19	37	15%
74		Abilene Chr	FCS	23	44	15%
75		Princeton	FCS	25	47	15%
76		Delta St	NCAA II	25	49	15%
77		Murray St	FCS	25	48	14%
78		Stony Brook	FCS	17	34	14%
79		Sacred Heart	FCS	21	42	14%
80		St Cloud	NCAA II	21	41	14%
81		Duquesne	FCS	20	40	14%
82		Lamar	FCS	22	44	14%
83		Lafayette	FCS	21	42	14%
84		Bucknell	FCS	19	38	13%
85		MO Western	NCAA II	20	40	13%
86		W Texas A&M	NCAA II	23	45	13%
87		Dartmouth	FCS	20	41	13%
88		Charleston So	FCS	19	39	13%
89		Fresno City Col	JUCO	21	44	12%
90		SE Missouri St	FCS	22	46	12%
91		Tennessee Tech	FCS	20	42	12%
92		Tarleton St	NCAA II	22	45	12%
93		WI Whitewater	NCAA III	19	39	12%
94		Elon	FCS	19	40	12%
95		Valdosta St	NCAA II	22	46	12%
96		W Carolina	FCS	22	46	12%
97		Winona St	NCAA II	23	48	12%
98		Modesto JC	JUCO	25	53	12%
99		Lehigh	FCS	23	49	12%
100		West Georgia	NCAA II	19	41	12%
101		Monmouth NJ	FCS	21	44	12%
102		Alabama St	HBCU	21	46	12%
103		N Central IL	NCAA III	21	45	11%
104		Diablo Val	JUCO	19	40	11%
105		Bryant	FCS	19	40	11%
106		Emporia St	NCAA II	23	49	11%
107		Augustana SD	NCAA II	19	40	11%
108		Yale	FCS	22	47	11%
109		Fullerton Col	JUCO	21	45	11%
110		Grand Valley St	NCAA II	21	45	11%
111		Gardner Webb	FCS	18	39	11%
112		Slippery Rock	NCAA II	22	49	11%
113		Albany NY	FCS	18	40	11%
114		M Hardin-Baylor	NCAA III	21	47	10%
115		West Chester	NCAA II	21	46	10%
116		Shepherd	NCAA II	19	41	10%
117		Holy Cross	FCS	19	42	10%
118		Colgate	FCS	19	42	10%
119		North Dakota	FCS	18	40	10%
120		C Oklahoma	NCAA II	20	46	10%
121		SW Minnesota	NCAA II	24	53	10%
122		Angelo St	NCAA II	19	44	10%
123		Weber St	FCS	19	43	10%
124		Laney	JUCO	20	46	10%
125		Bloomsburg	NCAA II	20	46	10%
126		Mt Union	NCAA III	23	52	10%
127		Idaho St	FCS	21	49	10%
128		Colorado Mines	NCAA II	18	41	10%
129		Col Sherbrooke	Canada	18	42	10%
130		Riverside CC	JUCO	21	48	9%
131		Alcorn St	FCS	20	47	9%
132		Southern Oregon	NAIA	24	55	9%
133		W Salem St	HBCU	18	41	9%
134		Saskatchewan	Canada	20	46	9%
135		Carroll MT	NAIA	19	44	9%
136		Manitoba	Canada	20	48	9%
137		Nicholls St	FCS	21	49	9%
138		Santa Rosa JC	JUCO	20	46	9%
139		Upper Iowa	NCAA II	21	50	9%
140		Findlay	NCAA II	22	52	9%
141		Charlotte	FCS	20	47	9%
142		Ouachita	NCAA II	19	45	9%
143		Carson-Newman	NCAA II	22	53	9%
144		Penn	FCS	19	45	9%
145		St Francis PA	FCS	19	44	9%
146		Ashland	NCAA II	19	46	9%
147		MO Southern	NCAA II	20	47	9%
148		Morgan St	HBCU	19	46	8%
149		Sierra Col	JUCO	19	45	8%
150		TX A&M Commerce	NCAA II	21	51	8%
151		N Colorado	FCS	18	43	8%
152		Howard	HBCU	19	47	8%
153		E New Mexico	NCAA II	20	48	8%
154		Wesley DE	NCAA III	19	46	8%
155		W Oregon	NCAA II	20	49	8%
156		Western ON	Canada	20	49	8%
157		Presbyterian	FCS	18	44	8%
158		Trinity CT	NCAA III	18	46	8%
159		Chabot	JUCO	20	49	8%
160		Hampton	HBCU	20	49	8%
161		California PA	NCAA II	18	45	8%
162		Southwestern CA	JUCO	19	46	8%
163		Butler	FCS	18	45	8%
164		Grandview	NAIA	18	46	8%
165		Brown	FCS	17	42	8%
166		Indianapolis	NCAA II	16	41	7%
167		Concordia QC	Canada	18	46	7%
168		Southern Univ	FCS	19	49	7%
169		Dayton	FCS	18	45	7%
170		Bishop’s	Canada	20	51	7%
171		Long Beach City Col	JUCO	21	53	7%
172		Citrus Col	JUCO	19	50	7%
173		Col of the Canyons	JUCO	18	47	7%
174		Chadron St	NCAA II	19	50	7%
175		San Diego	FCS	18	46	7%
176		Siskiyous	JUCO	17	43	7%
177		NC Central	HBCU	17	45	7%
178		Hillsdale	NCAA II	18	47	7%
179		Jacksonville	FCS	20	53	7%
180		Central Conn	FCS	18	48	7%
181		Golden West	JUCO	19	50	7%
182		Michigan Tech	NCAA II	17	45	7%
183		Mary ND	NCAA II	17	44	7%
184		VMI	FCS	20	52	7%
185		Cerritos Col	JUCO	18	49	7%
186		Linfield	NCAA III	18	48	7%
187		Washburn	NCAA II	18	49	7%
188		Prairie View	HBCU	21	55	7%
189		Wesleyan CT	NCAA III	16	44	7%
190		Wagner	FCS	16	42	7%
191		Fort Hays St	NCAA II	18	48	7%
192		Florida Tech	NCAA II	18	49	7%
193		Faulkner	NAIA	21	56	6%
194		Johns Hopkins	NCAA III	17	47	6%
195		St John Fisher	NCAA III	18	49	6%
196		Shippensburg	NCAA II	21	58	6%
197		Feather River	JUCO	20	55	6%
198		C Washington	NCAA II	17	46	6%
199		St Xavier IL	NAIA	19	52	6%
200		John Carroll	NCAA III	16	44	6%