Welcome back, college football fans, to episode 649 of the GCR in which we will review the second easiest conference in terms of Preseason Strength of Schedule (PS-SOS). Last time we talked a little about the Pioneer League, who sits at the bottom of our ranking.
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A quick reminder of what PS-SOS is and how we calculated it for this season. First, until this season, we did a simple calculation that began with the number of wins a team’s opponents had in the previous season, adjusted for location (home, neutral, or away) and League (Core 4, Group of 5, FCS, or non-Division I [D1]). Last season, as some of you may remember, we updated our essentially original ranking algorithm as an improvement. That “new” metric is now what we use to calculate the PS-SOS. The number of wins method was flawed as some FCS teams (or the entire Ivy League) play fewer games than others, and in the new 12-team playoff mode, the FBS experienced the same disparity. Using the actual Score metric (a combination of a performance metric and a strength of schedule metric) provides us with a more “accurate” method of preseason difficulty ranking. There are a few caveats with the biggest being there is an assumption that each team will repeat the records they had last year. So, Indiana being perfect or Vandy winning 10, etc. Obviously, that won’t happen so any method is flawed in some way. The other adjustment to the Score for purposes of this exploration is a difficulty bonus for playing on the road with a slightly smaller for playing a neutral site game.
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Being that this annual preseason ranking is, as all of the GCR, purely for entertainment purposes, we admit the inherent assumptions as flawed, but we will have fun anyway.
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In 24th place of the most difficult conferences in college football (or second from the bottom of D1), we have the mighty Southwestern Athletic Conference or SWAC whose 12 members are Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), many of which were founded when integration was illegal in the south. The SWAC is a conference that chooses not to participate in the FCS 24-team playoff pool. Its two division (East and West) winners play for the conference championship with the winner moving on to play in the only FCS bowl (The Celebration Bowl) against the winner of our other HBCU conference, the MEAC.
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The PS-SOS metric can be read as how many wins did “the team’s opponents” average last season, assuming a neutral site and a Core 4 schedule. Our most-challenged teams have a PS-SOS of around 10.000. Prairie View, who tops the SWAC, comes in at 3.93 which is good for 192nd out of 266 teams. It is also the 54th most difficult FCS schedule. As a conference, the SWAC has a mean PS-SOS of 3.396 and a mean position rank of 233.6. In the table below, (4) indicates a game against a Core 4 opponent, (G) indicates a Group of 6 foe, (F) indicates facing a non-conference FCS team, (D) indicates battling a non-Division I enemy, and (N) indicates a neutral site tryst. With no further ado, we are proud to present the 2026 SWAC.
| Team (Conf Rank) | Home Field | 2025 Record (Rank) | 2026 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away/Neutral Games | Hardest | Easiest |
| Prairie View Panthers(1) | Prairie View, TX | 10-4 (154) | 3.93 (192) | TX Southern, Steph F Austin (F), Southern, Alcorn St, Alabama A&M | Tarleton (F), Baylor (4), Grambling (N), MS Valley, East Texas (F), Ark Pine Bluff, Alabama St | at Baylor (8.79) | Southern (1.80) |
| Florida A&M Rattlers (2) | Tallahassee, FL | 5-7 (232) | 3.90 (195) | Albany St (D), TN St, Alabama A&M, Ark Pine Bluff, Southern, MS Valley | SC St (NF), Miami FL (4), Alabama St, Jackson St, Alcorn St, Bethune (N) | at Miami FL (13.48) | Albany St (0.10) |
| TX Southern Tigers (3) | Houston, TX | 6-5 (215) | 3.87 (197) | NC Central (F), MS Valley, Southern, Grambling, Alabama St, Ark Pine Bluff | Prairie View, UTEP (G), Alcorn St, FAU (G), Alabama A&M | at FAU (6.78) | Southern (1.80) |
| Southern Jaguars (4) | Baton Rouge, LA | 2-10 (255) | 3.81 (205) | KY St (D), LA Chr (D), Ark Pine Bluff, Bethune, Alcorn St | Alabama St (N), Houston (4), Jackson St, Prairie View, TX Southern, Florida A&M, Grambling (N) | at Houston (11.51) | LA Chr (0.09) |
| Ark Pine Bluff Golden Lions (5) | Pine Bluff, AR | 4-8 (235) | 3.50 (233) | Central St (D), Alabama St, Bethune, Prairie View | Morehouse (ND), Missouri (4), Alcorn St (N), Southern, Florida A&M, Grambling, TX Southern | at Missouri (10.66) | Central St (0.71) |
| Grambling Tigers (6) | Grambling, LA | 7-5 (212) | 3.48 (235) | Clark Atl (D), Central St (D), Alcorn St, Jackson St, Ark Pine Bluff | TCU (4), Prairie View (N), Alabama A&M, TX Southern, Bethune, Southern (N) | at TCU (11.69) | Clark Atl, Central St (0.71) |
| Bethune Wildcats (7) | Daytona Beach, FL | 6-6 (220) | 3.38 (244) | Stetson (F), Lynchburg (D), SC St (F), Alabama St, Jackson St, Grambling | UCF (4), Alabama A&M, MS Valley, Ark Pine Bluff, Southern, Florida A&M (N) | at UCF (8.82) | Lynchburg (0.07) |
| MS Valley Delta Devils (8) | Itta Bena, MS | 2-10 (242) | 3.23 (257) | Delta St (D), Prairie View, Bethune, Alcorn St, Alabama A&M | Nicholls (F), Sacramento St (F), Lincoln PA (ND), Alabama St, TX Southern, Jackson St, Florida A&M | at Alabama St (5.84) | vs Lincoln PA (0.06) |
| Alcorn St Braves (9) | Lorman, MS | 5-7 (205) | 3.09 (258) | Miles (D), TX Southern, Ark Bapt (D), Florida A&M, Jackson St | Southern Miss (G), Ark Pine Bluff (N), North Alabama (F), Grambling, Prairie View, MS Valley, Southern | at Southern Miss (8.21) | Ark Bapt (0.07) |
| Alabama St Hornets(10) | Montgomery, AL | 10-2 (135) | 3.05 (260) | Lane (D), MS Valley, Florida A&M, Jackson St, Prairie View, Tuskegee (D) | Southern (N), Troy (G), Bethune, Ark Pine Bluff, Alabama A&M (N), TX Southern | at Troy (8.58) | Lane (0.06) |
| Alabama A&M Bulldogs (11) | Huntsville, AL | 4-8 (236) | 2.96 (262) | Miles (D), TN St (F), Bowie St (D), Bethune, Grambling, TX Southern | Howard (NF), Florida A&M, Jackson St (N), Alabama St (N), Prairie View, MS Valley | vs Alabama St (5.46) | Miles (0.07) |
| Jackson St Tigers (12) | Jackson, MS | 9-3 (140) | 2.55 (265) | Ed Waters (D), Tuskegee (D), Southern, Florida A&M, MS Valley | TN St (F), Alabama A&M (N), Grambling, Bethune, Alabama St, Alcorn St | at Alabama St (5.84) | Tuskegee (0.07) |
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and sharing with others. See you next time when we discuss #23, JoJo and G.
