During the 2025 regular season, Division I HBCUs will play a combined 17 games against FBS opponents.
Historically, some HBCU coaches have criticized the meetings as games that present football players as sacrificial lambs for FBS programs in exchange for a six-figure boon to the athletic budget.
Black College Football programs are typically massive underdogs in games against FBS opponents. Only once in the last seven years has an HBCU knocked off an FBS school.
In 2018, North Carolina A&T beat East Carolina on the road in a game that spawned a viral postgame video clip when then-Aggies head coach Sam Washington addressed a jubilant locker room by saying, “Bring me my money” after the win.
This year, some notable upcoming HBCU-FBS matchups will feature Bethune-Cookman at Miami, Grambling State at defending national champion Ohio State, and defending MEAC champion South Carolina State going down the road to Columbia to play SEC opponent South Carolina.
Which HBCU has the best chance to pull off an FBS upset?
One college football website believes a SWAC school has the most reasonable opportunity to topple an FBS foe.
Jackson State, which is coming off an HBCU national championship, is considered by Hero Sports to have one of the best odds to beat an FBS school when the Tigers play at Southern Mississippi.
“Jackson State is loaded this season after finishing 12-2 and winning the Celebration Bowl,” the FCS-centric website wrote. “From last year’s offense that scored 36.4 points per game (No. 5 in the FCS), JSU returns its starting quarterback (JaCobian Morgan), top wide receiver in catches (Joanes Fortilien), top tight end (Marvin Landy), three starting offensive linemen, and added an All-SWAC First Team WR (Nate Rembert).
The defense, which allowed 17.1 points per game last year (No. 6 in the FCS), returns four of its top six tacklers, led by linebacker Reid Pulliam and defensive tackle Jeremiah Williams. Southern Miss went 1-11 in 2024 and ranks No. 108 on ESPN’s preseason FBS College Football Power Index.”
If JSU, which is 0-13 all-time against FBS opponents, can pull off this upset, it could solidify the Tigers among the elite teams in the FCS.
