Happy Sunday, oh great and wonderful college football fans. We are 76 days away from the 2023 kickoff and we still have tons of conferences to talk through. So far we’ve seen the 4 weakest (and, yes, for this exercise, I count the silly schedule of the 1-team FCS Independent Kennesaw St as one) conferences. Today we are looking at the 21st most challenging or 5th easiest, if you prefer, first.
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The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference or MEAC kicks us off today as its 6 teams average a Preseason Strength of Schedule (PS SOS) of 2.552. As a reminder, the average FCS conference PS SOS is 2.7292. NC Central, South Carolina St, and Delaware St are above the FCS average pulling them above the weaker conferences already covered, but no team faces opponents who combined record in 2022 was at or above .500. (N) indicates a neutral site game, (P) indicates a Power 5 foe, (G) indicates a Group of 5 opponent, and (D) indicates a non-Division 1 school. Here are the 6:
| Team/Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | 2022 Record/ SOS Rank | 2023 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away/ Neutral | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away/ Neutral |
| NC Central (1) | 2.850/188 | 10-2/213 | 53-69 (.434) | (5-17) South Carolina St, Norfolk St | (14-19) Morgan St, Howard, Delaware St | (8-12) (D) Winston Salem, Campbell | (26-21) North Carolina A&T, (N) Mississippi Valley, (P) UCLA, Elon |
| South Carolina St (2) | 2.735/195 | 3-8/138 | 54-71 (.432) | (9-13) Howard, Morgan St | (17-17) Delaware St, NC Central, Norfolk St | (8-24) Citadel, Tennessee Tech, (D) Lynchburg | (20-17) (N) Jackson St, (P) Georgia Tech, (G) Charlotte |
| Delaware St (3) | 2.731/196 | 5-6/234 | 53-72 (.424) | (10-23) South Carolina St, Howard, Norfolk St | (14-9) Morgan St, NC Central | (15-18) (D) Bowie St, Richmond, (D) Lynchburg | (14-22) (G) Army, (G) Miami OH, C Connecticut |
| Howard (4) | 2.450/210 | 5-6/231 | 45-78 (.366) | (16-18) Norfolk St, NC Central, Morgan St | (8-14) Delaware St, South Carolina St | (1-9) (D) Morehouse | (20-37) (G) E Michigan, Robert Morris, (N) Hampton, (P) Northwestern, Harvard |
| Norfolk St (5) | 2.323/220 | 2-9/161 | 57-65 (.467) | (7-15) Morgan St, South Carolina St | (20-14) Howard, NC Central, Delaware St | (13-8) (D) Virginia St, North Carolina A&T | (17-28) Hampton, Towson, (G) Temple, Tennessee St |
| Morgan St (6) | 2.227/228 | 4-7/242 | 55-69 (.444) | (15-8) NC Central, Delaware St | (10-23) Norfolk St, South Carolina St, Howard | (11-22) Towson, Albany, Stony Brook | (19-16) Richmond, (G) Akron, Yale |
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And in this year’s 20th spot in the PS Difficulty Poll (ok, not a poll but math, but go with me here), is the Northeast Conference. The 8-member group features 2 teams with PS SOS above 3.000 and one below 2.000. Overall, they average 2.5635 compared to the FCS average of 2.7290. Again, no teams face collective opponents with a combined winning record. As further comparison, the most difficult FCS PS SOS exceeds 5.000 so we have a long way to go. There are no scheduled neutral site games. Here is the NEC:
| Team Conf/ Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | 2022 Record/ SOS Rank | 2023 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away/ Neutral | Non-Conf Home | Non-Away/ Neutral |
| Long Island (1) | 3.462/147 | 4-7/ 183 | 55-70 (.440) | (18-26) Duquesne, Sacred Heart, Merrimack, Wagner | (15-17) C Connecticut, St Francis, Stonehill | — | (22-27) (G) Ohio, Bryant, (P) Baylor, Maine |
| Duquesne (2) | 3.370/154 | 4-7/ 168 | 60-65 (.480) | (15-17) C Connecticut, St Francis, Stonehill | (18-26) Long Island, Sacred Heart, Wagner, Merrimack | (5-6) (D) Edinboro | (22-16) (P) West Virginia, (G) Coastal Carolina, Delaware |
| Wagner (3) | 2.789/191 | 1-10/ 238 | 53-69 (.430) | (18-24) Merrimack, C Connecticut, Stonehill, Duquesne | (18-16) Sacred Heart, St Francis, Long Island | (0-10) (D) Post | (17-19) Fordham, (G) Navy, (P) Rutgers |
| Sacred Heart (4) | 2.481/209 | 5-6/ 254 | 52-69 (430) | (15-29) Wagner, Merrimack, Duquesne, C Connecticut | (17-15) St Francis, Long Island, Stonehill | (4-7) Lafayette | (16-18) Georgetown, Yale, (G) UCONN |
| C Connecticut (5) | 2.210/232 | 2-9/ 247 | 49-70 (412) | (17-15) Stonehill, Long Island, St Francis | (18-26) Duquesne, Wagner, Sacred Heart, Merrimack | (6-15) (D) American International, Delaware St | (8-14) (G) Kent St, Brown |
| Stonehill (6) | 2.178/234 | 4-5/ 259 | 56-58 (.491) | (18-16) St Francis, Sacred Heart, Long Island | (10-21) Stonehill, Duquesne, C Connecticut | (9-4) New Hampshire | (11-12) Georgetown, Fordham |
| St Francis (7) | 2.123/240 | 9-3/ 243 | 41-70 (.369) | (18-26) Sacred Heart, Wagner, Merrimack, Long Island | (19-26) Stonehill, Duquesne, C Connecticut | — | (13-23) (G) W Michigan, Robert Morris, Delaware |
| Merrimack (8) | 1.896/253 | 8-3/ 230 | 44-78 (.361) | (10-21) Stonehill, C Connecticut, Duquesne | (19-26) Wagner, Sacred Heart, Long Island, St Francis | (2-19) Lehigh, (D) Lynchburg | (13-12) Holy Cross, (G) UMASS |
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That’s it for today. If all goes well, there’ll be a new post mid-week. If not, I’ll double up next weekend again. Thank you for reading and sharing with others, G
