Happy Father’s Day to all those who have been called “dad” by anyone. It’s been an exceptionally great one for me and I hope for you as well. In this episode we are going to talk about the 17th most difficult conference by preseason Strength of Schedule (PS SOS), aka the 9th easiest, aka the 6th most difficult FCS Conference.
…..
The 9-team Southland conference welcomed an old member back as the Steph F Austin Lumberjacks ended their 3-year experiment with the UAC (see the last episode at http://bit.ly/2019GCR). Last season was tragically cut short for Northwestern St when a campus shooting shut down the season. The Demons were 0-6 at the time and did not play their scheduled games against McNeese (0-10) and Commerce (1-9), leaving an odd 3-team set in the same conference with a combined single win (1-25). Let’s hope and pray that there is no repetition at any school, place of worship, place of business, place for entertainment, etc., this year.
…..
Despite having some really bad teams (see above paragraph), the conference is ranked higher than their performance, PS SOS wise, because of the 12 games against the FBS and 2 games against last year’s FCS champion (at 15-0) South Dakota St. I don’t expect a lot in terms of win totals from the Southland, but you have to tip your hat to the challenges they take on. In the table below, (D) indicates a game against a non-Division I team, (F) indicates a game against a non-conference FCS team, (G) indicates a game against a Group of 5 (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-2, Sun Belt, non-Notre Dame Independents) team, and (4) indicates a game against a Core 4 (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, Notre Dame) team. There are no neutral site games scheduled. College football fans, I present the 2024 Southland Conference:
| Team | 2023 Record (Rank) | 2024 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away/Neutral Games | Opp 2023 Rec |
| Houston Christian Huskies (1) | 5-5 (194) | 3.50 (148) | (26-34/.433) Louisiana Christian (D), Tarleton (F), McNeese, Southeastern, Nicholls, Northwestern St | (33-36/.472) SMU (4), UTSA (G), Indiana St (F), Steph F Austin, Incarnate Word, Commerce | 59-70 (.457) |
| Southeastern Lions (2) | 3-8 (237) | 3.29 (153) | (31-32/.492) E Washington (F), South Dakota St (F), Commerce, Steph F Austin, Incarnate Word, Northwestern St | (39-30/.565) Tulane (G), Southern Miss (G), Tarleton (F), Houston Christian, Lamar, Nicholls | 70-62 (.530) |
| Nicholls Colonels (3) | 6-5 (175) | 3.07 (170) | (7-42/.143) Mississippi Valley (F), Northwestern St, McNeese, Steph F Austin, Southeastern | (46-35/.567) LSU (4), LA Tech (G), Sacramento St (F), Southern (F), Incarnate Word, Houston Christian, Lamar | 53-77 (.408) |
| McNeesse Cowboys (4) | 0-10 (210) | 2.87 (187) | (18-36/.333) Southern (F), Alcorn St (F), Steph F Austin, Commerce, Lamar | (40-32/.556) Texas A&M (4), Tarleton (F), Weber St (F), Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Nicholls, Northwestern St | 58-70 (.453) |
| Northwestern St Demons (5) | 0-6 (223) | 2.45 (207) | (19-35/.352) Prairie View (F), Weber St (F), Commerce, Lamar, McNeese | (32-47/.405) Tulsa (G), South Alabama (G), SEMO (F), Steph F Austin, Nicholls, Southeastern, Houston Christian | 51-82 (.383) |
| Commerce Lions (6) | 1-9 (240) | 2.21 (231) | (35-31/.530) Grambling St (F), Sacramento St (F), Lamar, Steph F Austin, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word | (20-42/.323) San Diego St (G), UC Davis (F), Prairie View (F), Southeastern, Northwestern St, McNeese | 55-73 (430) |
| Lamar Cardinals (7) | 6-5 (188) | 2.17 (234) | (22-44/.333) Mississippi Valley (F), Weber St (F), Texas Southern (F), Steph F Austin, Southeastern, Nicholls | (24-36/.400) Texas St (G), C Arkansas (F), Commerce, Northwestern St, Incarnate Word, McNeese | 46-80 (.365) |
| Steph F Austin Lumberjacks (8) | 3-8 (234) | 2.14 (236) | (19-40/.322) North American (D), N Colorado (F), Abilene Christian (F), Northwestern St, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word | (21-44/.323) North Texas (G), Commerce, McNeese, Lamar, Southeastern, Nicholls | 40-84 (.323) |
| Incarnate Word Cardinals (9) | 8-2 (143) | 1.88 (257) | (28-48/.368) N Colorado (F), N Arizona (F), Prairie View (F), Nicholls, McNeese, Houston Christian, Lamar | (30-30/.500) South Dakota St (F), S Illinois (F), Southeastern, Steph F Austin, Commerce | 58-78 (.426) |
…..
That’s it for today. Tune in next time for the 16th place conference, more challenging, more intrigue, closer to the FBS. Thank you, as always, for reading and especially for sharing with others. Let me know what you think and what you are looking forward to this season, G
