NCAA Division II Football Playoffs to Expand in 2025 Season

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — The NCAA Division II football playoffs will expand from 28 to 32 teams beginning in the 2025 season, the NCAA announced.

The expansion is to accommodate the format change that will award automatic bids to all 16 conferences.

Angelo State University, which competes in NCAA Division II, has qualified for the playoffs three of the last four years.

In January, Division II football schools approved a proposal to require all conferences to be represented in the playoffs. Previously, Division II football was the only team sport across all three NCAA divisions that did not use automatic qualification for conference champions.

The playoff schedule will remain the same, except that the four No. 1 seeds will no longer receive first-round byes. 

The Division II championship game is set for Dec. 20 in McKinney.