2013 NCAA Division II football season
The 2013 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began in August 31, 2013, and concluded with the National Championship Game of the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 21, 2013, at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama. This was the final championship played in Florence, after twenty-eight straight finals, before the game moves to Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats defeated the Lenoir–Rhyne Bears, 43-28, to win their fourth national title.
The 2013 Harlon Hill Trophy was awarded to running back Franklyn Quiteh from Bloomsburg.
Conference and program changes
- It was the first season for the Mountain East Conference, a league founded by eight schools that announced in June 2012 that they would leave the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference —a move that led to the demise of the WVIAC. These eight schools were soon joined by three other football-playing schools, plus one non-football WVIAC member that had been left out of the original split.
| School | Former conference | New conference |
| Abilene Christian Wildcats | Lone Star | Southland |
| Alderson Broaddus Battlers | New program | Independent |
| Central State Marauders | GLVC | SIAC |
| Charleston Golden Eagles | WVIAC | Mountain East |
| Concord Mountain Lions | WVIAC | Mountain East |
| Fairmont State Falcons | WVIAC | Mountain East |
| Florida Tech Panthers | New program | Gulf South |
| Glenville State College | WVIAC | Mountain East |
| Incarnate Word Cardinals | Lone Star | Southland |
| LIU Post Pioneers | PSAC | NE10 |
| Notre Dame Falcons | GLIAC | Mountain East |
| Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers | Independent | Great American |
| Seton Hill Griffins | WVIAC | PSAC |
| Shepherd Rams | WVIAC | Mountain East |
| Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm | Independent | Great American |
| Truman Bulldogs | MIAA | GLVC |
| Urbana Blue Knights | GLVC | Mountain East |
| Virginia–Wise Cavaliers | Mid-South | Mountain East |
| West Liberty Hilltoppers | WVIAC | Mountain East |
| West Virginia State Yellow Jackets | WVIAC | Mountain East |
| West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats | WVIAC | Mountain East |
Black Hills State, Lindenwood, Malone, McKendree, South Dakota Mines, and Walsh completed their transitions to Division II and became eligible for the postseason.
Conference standings
Super Region 1
Super Region 2
Super Region 3
Super Region 4
Conference summaries
Playoffs
The 2013 NCAA Division II National Football Championship playoffs involved 24 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college football.The tournament began on November 23, 2013 and concluded on December 21, 2013 with the 2013 NCAA Division II National Football Championship game at Braly Municipal Stadium near the campus of the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama.
Format
Two teams in each super regional earned first-round byes. The first-round winners advanced to face a bye team in their super regional.Second-round winners met in the quarterfinals and quarterfinal winners advanced to play in the semifinals. First-round, second-round, quarterfinal and semifinal games were played on the campus of one of the competing institutions as determined by the NCAA Division II Football Committee. The home team at the championship was determined by the Division II Football Committee and the Shoals National Championship Committee.
Participants
Teams
Bids by conference
Bracket
Playoff standings
| Place | School |
| 1st | Northwest Missouri State |
| 2nd | Lenoir-Rhyne |
| 3rd | Grand Valley State |
| 3rd | West Chester |
| 5th | Shepherd |
| 5th | North Alabama |
| 5th | St. Cloud State |
| 5th | West Texas A&M |
| 9th | Bloomsburg |
| 9th | Carson-Newman |
| 9th | Colorado State-Pueblo |
| 9th | Minnesota-Duluth |
| 9th | Minnesota State Mankato |
| 9th | Ohio Dominican |
| 9th | UNC Pembroke |
| 9th | Winston-Salem State |
| 17th | American International |
| 17th | Emporia State |
| 17th | Henderson State |
| 17th | Indianapolis |
| 17th | Newberry |
| 17th | Saginaw Valley State |
| 17th | Slippery Rock |
| 17th | Tuskegee |