Happy Independence Day Eve, oh great and wonderful college football fans. Now that we are in July, the days are getting shorter, despite the heat, there’s a promise of fall, and we are just 54 days until the season kicks off. We are nearly finished with the FCS portion of the annual Preseason Strength of Schedule (PS SOS) with the next to last 2 conferences in this post.
…..
Kicking off today we have Southern Conference or SoCon, whose 9 teams have the 15th most difficult schedule, collectively, in Division 1 with a score of 3.005 compared to the FCS overall average of 2.729. Growing up in South Carolina, I’ve always been a fan of the conference and now that my daughter has transferred to Chattanooga (Go Mocs!), I’ll be following even more closely. As a reminder (N) indicates a neutral site game, (P) indicates a Power 5 opponent, (G) indicates a Group of 5 foe, and (D) indicates a non-D1 team. Here they are from most challenged to not so much:
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 Record/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away/ Neutral |
| Wofford (1) | 3.447/149 | 3-8/224 | 70-59 (.543) | (34-14) Chattanooga, Samford, W Carolina, Furman | (15-29) VMI, E Tennessee St, Mercer, Citadel | (1-10) Presby-terian | (20-6) (P) Pittsburgh, William & Mary |
| Chattanooga (2) | 3.375/153 | 7-4/174 | 62-65 (.488) | (23-23) Citadel, W Carolina, E Tennessee St, Furman | (22-24) Samford, Wofford, Mercer, VMI | (5-6) Kennesaw St | (12-12) N Alabama, (P) Alabama |
| VMI (3) | 3.356/155 | 1-10/ 151 | 70-58 (.547) | (27-19) Wofford, Samford, Chattanooga, W Carolina | (24-22) Mercer, Citadel, E Tennessee St, Furman | (8-4) Davidson | (11-13) Bucknell, (P) NC St |
| Furman (4) | 3.101/172 | 10-3/ 139 | 59-66 (.472) | (15-29) Mercer, Citadel, E Tennessee St, VMI | (27-19) Samford, W Carolina, Chattanooga, Wofford | (4-7) Tennessee Tech | (13-11) (P) South Carolina, Kennesaw St |
| W Carolina (5) | 2.935/178 | 6-5/229 | 62-65 (.488) | (31-17) Samford, Furman, Mercer, E Tennessee St | (15-29) Citadel, Chattanooga, Wofford, VMI | (2-8) Charleston | (14-11) (P) Arkansas, E Kentucky |
| Citadel (6) | 2.886/184 | 4-7/206 | 62-65 (.488) | (17-27) W Carolina, VMI, Mercer, Wofford | (31-17) Chattanooga, Furman, Samford, E Tennessee St | (5-6) Campbell | (9-15) (G) Ga Southern, South Carolina St |
| Mercer (7) | 2.880/185 | 7-4/198 | 56-71 (.441) | (22-24) VMI, Chattanooga, Wofford, Samford | (23-23) Furman, E Tennessee St, W Carolina, Citadel | (2-9) Morehead St | (9-15) (N) N Alabama, (P) Mississippi |
| E Tennessee St (8) | 2.664/202 | 3-8/182 | 71-54 (.568) | (15-29) Mercer, Wofford, VMI, Citadel | (34-17) Samford, Chattanooga, Furman, W Carolina | (6-5) (D) Carson Newman | (16-6) (G) Jacksonville St, Austin Peay |
| Samford (9) | 2.402/214 | 11-2/ 132 | 56-68 (.452) | (24-22) Chattanooga, E Tennessee St, Furman, Citadel | (17-27) W Carolina, Wofford, VMI, Mercer | (10-12) (D) Shorter, Tennessee Martin | (5-7) (P) Auburn |
…..
Earlier this year, I had a client in San Antonio and passed the sign for Incarnate Word, one of last year’s surprise teams from the Southland Conference whose 8 members average 3.0588 in PS SOS to come in 14th (3rd most difficult FCS schedule). This conference also has the team that holds the most difficult FCS schedule with Nicholls ridiculous 5.354. You’ll see why below (4 games against 12-win teams is a big reason), but that schedule is mathematically more difficult than a handful of Group of 5 schools (E Michigan, Temple, Air Force, UTEP, and Liberty). Here are the 8 from Nicholls to everybody else.
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 Record/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away |
| Nicholls (1) | 5.354/ 127 | 3-8/ 142 | 86-53 (.577) | (7-26) Houston Christian, Northwestern St, Lamar | (30-19) McNeese, Commerce, Incarnate Word, SELA | (21-4) Sacramento St, SEMO | (25-4) (P) TCU, (G) Tulane |
| SELA (2) | 3.947/ 135 | 9-4/ 171 | 59-69 (.461) | (10-34) Houston Christian, Lamar, McNeese, Nicholls | (21-15) Incarnate Word, Northwestern St, McNeese | (6-5) Tarleton | (22-15) (P) Mississippi St, (G) S Alabama, E Washington |
| Houston Christian (3) | 3.003/ 176 | 2-9/ 252 | 61-65 (.484) | (18-18) Lamar, Commerce, Incarnate Word | (20-26) SELA, Nicholls, Northwestern St, McNeese | (7-12) (D) Arkansas Baptist, Prairie View | (16-9) (G) W Kentucky, Tennessee Martin |
| Commerce (4) | 2.673/ 201 | 5-6/ 258 | 62-77 (.446) | (16-19) McNeese, Nicholls, SELA | (19-28) Incarnate Word, Houston Christian, Lamar, Northwestern St | (6-5) UC Davis | (21-15) Sacramento St, (G) Old Dominion, Steph F Austin |
| Northwestern St (5) | 2.663/ 203 | 4-7/ 248 | 53-76 (.411) | (16-19) SELA, Houston Christian, Commerce | (20-27) Lamar, Nicholls, McNeese, Incarnate Word | (8-14) Steph F Austin, E Illinois | (9-16) (G) Louisiana, (G) LA Tech |
| McNeese (6) | 2.618/ 206 | 4-7/ 190 | 59-81 (.421) | (21-26) Nicholls, Incarnate Word, Northwestern St, Houston Christian | (15-20) Commerce, SELA, Lamar | (6-5) Tarleton | (13-22) (P) Florida, Alcorn St, E Illinois |
| Lamar (7) | 2.214/ 230 | 1-10/ 221 | 55-71 (.437) | (25-22) Northwestern St, Incarnate Word, Commerce, McNeese St | (14-21) Houston Christian, SELA, Nicholls | (9-12) Idaho, (D) Lincoln | (7-16) (G) ULM, South Dakota |
| Incarnate Word (8) | 2.000/ 249 | 12-2/ 180 | 46-78 (.371) | (21-25) SELA, Commerce, Nicholls, Northwestern St | (7-26) McNeese, Lamar, Houston Christian | (3-8) (D) North American | (15-19) (G) UTEP, N Colorado, Abilene Christian |
…..
That’s it for the day. Tune in next time for the last of the FCS before we dive into the Group of 5. Thanks for reading and sharing with others, G
