2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season

• April 20 – The NCAA banned five schools from the 2016 postseason for failure to meet Academic Progress Rate criteria: Florida A&M, Howard, Morgan State, Savannah State, and Southern.
• April 28 – Following the March 1 announcement by the Sun Belt Conference that it would not renew its football-only membership agreements with Idaho and New Mexico State when they expire at the end of the 2017 season,^[1] Idaho announced that it would return to FCS football in its all-sports league, the Big Sky Conference, in 2018.^[2] The Vandals thus became the first team ever to voluntarily drop from FBS to FCS.^[3]
• September 17 – East Tennessee State and Western Carolina played on a temporary fieldturf surface installed on the infield of the Bristol Motor Speedway. The same NASCAR racetrack hosted a game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech one week earlier.^[4]
• November 19 – Joe Thomas Sr., a 55-year-old walk-on at South Carolina State, appeared for one play in the first quarter of the Bulldogs' season finale against Savannah State, rushing for 3 yards. Although the NCAA does not keep statistics on player ages, the father of Green Bay Packers linebacker Joe Thomas Jr. is believed to be the oldest player ever to take the field in a Division I game.^[5]

(FCS rankings from the STATS poll) September 2: Albany 22, Buffalo 16
September 3: #14 Eastern Washington 45, Washington State 42
September 3: #5 Northern Iowa 25, Iowa State 20
September 3: #4 Richmond 37, Virginia 20
September 10: Eastern Illinois 21, Miami (OH) 17
September 10: #10 Illinois State 9, Northwestern 7
September 10: #23 North Carolina A&T 39, Kent State 36 ^4OT
September 17: #1 North Dakota State 23, No. 13 (FBS) Iowa 21 [NOTE: NDSU became just the 4th FCS team to beat an AP ranked FBS team, and afterward received 74 votes for the AP top-25 rankings (No. 27 overall), the most votes ever received by an FCS team].^[6]
September 24: Central Arkansas 28, Arkansas State 23
September 24: #13 Western Illinois 28, Northern Illinois 23

• Ivy League – Princeton
• Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – North Carolina Central
• Southwestern Athletic Conference – Grambling State

* Home team   
 Winner
All times in Eastern Standard Time (UTC−05:00)

• The Walter Payton Award is given to the year's most outstanding offensive player. Finalists:
  • Jeremiah Briscoe (QB), Sam Houston State
  • Gage Gubrud (QB), Eastern Washington
  • Cooper Kupp (WR), Eastern Washington

• The Buck Buchanan Award is given to the year's most outstanding defensive player. Finalists:
  • Dylan Cole (LB), Missouri State
  • P. J. Hall (DE), Sam Houston State
  • Karter Schult (DE), Northern Iowa

• The Jerry Rice Award is given to the year's most outstanding freshman.
  • Winner: A. J. Hines (RB), Duquesne

• AFCA Coach of the Year: Mike Houston, James Madison
• Eddie Robinson Award: K. C. Keeler, Sam Houston State

• South Dakota State debuted Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium (capacity 19,340).
• New Hampshire debuted a major renovation of the renamed Wildcat Stadium, expanded to just over 11,000 from the previous capacity of 6,500.
• William & Mary also debuted a major renovation and expansion to its Zable Stadium, which the saw the addition of an upper deck and an increase in capacity to 12,259.
• Prairie View A&M opened its new Panther Stadium (capacity 15,000).^[7][8]

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2016. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2016, see 2015 NCAA Division I FCS end-of-season coaching changes.

The following rule changes were recommended by the NCAA Football Rules Committee for the 2022 season:^[14]

• When players are disqualified for a targeting call in the second half or in overtime (which requires a carryover penalty of sitting out the first half of the next scheduled game), an appeals process will be available to allow the National Coordinator of Officials (currently Steve Shaw) to review tapes of the targeting penalty for consideration of not requiring the player to sit out the first half of the following game.
• Injury timeouts awarded due to "deceptive actions" during a game will also be able to reviewed by the National Coordinator of Officials to determine what sanctions, if any, against teams who use this tactic, enforced at the conference or school level.
• Blocking below the waist will only be permitted inside the tackle box by linemen and stationary backs. Blocks below the waist outside of the tackle box are not allowed.
• Defensive holding will remain a 10-yard penalty but will always carry an automatic first down.
• Codifying the rule change made shortly after the 2021 ACC Championship Game, ball carriers who simulate a feet-first slide will be declared down at that spot.
• Uniform rules would require the sock/leg covering to go from the shoe to the bottom of the pants, similar to the NFL rule.