The Western Carolina Catamounts football competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the Southern Conference. Since the school’s first football team was fielded in 1931, the Catamounts have made two postseason appearances, and have played in one national championship game. The Catamounts’ first and currently only conference championship came in 1949. The program made an appearance in the 1983 NCAA Division I-AA national championship game. The Catamounts made one appearance in the Division II playoffs in 1974.