2022 Southern Conference Season Preview
The 2021 Southern Conference football season played out the way the SoCon always seems to play out: unpredictably. This season figures to have a similar finish.
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The 2021 Southern Conference football season played out the way the SoCon always seems to play out: unpredictably. This season figures to have a similar finish.
This team has a look of a mid-2010s Samford which gave opponents fits offensively but played a lot of shootouts.
The high level stats show the struggles that Western Carolina has endured. The last three seasons they have allowed 38, 39 and 41 points per game on average while going from 30 scored per game in 2018 to 19 to 18 over the last two seasons.
The race for the SoCon title looks to be down to three teams, Chattanooga, VMI and East Tennessee State. ETSU only has one loss and still plays both of the unbeatens. As of now, VMI and Chattanooga do not play.
VMI and Chattanooga are the two remaining teams without a conference loss. Furman is waiting in the wings if they falter.
Last week was an excellent week of Southern Conference football with two games going to overtime and VMI continuing its hot start. Chattanooga was able to survive against The Citadel with a gutsy 2-point conversion shovel pass in over time. Furman fell behind 24-7 and 34-20 before saving their season with a touchdown and fumble recovery in overtime. With the games on tap this week, don’t be surprised to see more games come down to the final play.
Raise your hand if you had Chattanooga, VMI or East Tennessee State as the team that will be the last unbeaten remaining in the Southern Conference. Now put your hand down because you are lying.
The Southern Conference is playing an eight game conference only schedule this spring, meaning there are games every week with little room for error. Last week the two teams that everyone expects to battle it out for the conference title, Wofford and Furman, cruised to victory.
The conference title looks like it should come down to Furman and Wofford. But there are two teams who have enough talent to challenge the favorites for the league title – Chattanooga and The Citadel.
VMI quarterback Reece Udinski has been named the Southern Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and The Citadel linebacker Willie Eubanks III has been tabbed the Defensive Player of the Year
Everything has been decided in the Southern Conference with one week to go in the season. Wofford was able to clinch the conference title with its win over Furman coupled by a large blown fourth quarter lead by The Citadel against Chattanooga. Furman should also easily find its way into the field.
We are down to the last two weeks and the Southern Conference has a clear picture of its outlook for the conference title and potential playoff bids. There are three teams in the mix – Furman, Wofford and The Citadel. With a win this week, Furman will clinch the conference title and automatic bid to the playoffs. A Wofford win sets up a week 13 showdown between Wofford and The Citadel – provided The Citadel takes care of business on the road this weekend.
The crème has started to rise to the top in the Southern Conference over the last few weeks. With three weeks left in the season, there are three teams left in the mix for the conference title, and those are likely the only three teams who have a shot to make the playoffs – Furman, Wofford and The Citadel.
The SoCon race is still a wide open, with three teams with one conference loss and another three with two conference losses. There is a lot of football to be played and the Southern conference has been wildly unpredictable this year.
With Furman losing at home to The Citadel, the Southern Conference race was ripped wide open. Furman was cruising, leading many to think the league was decided, but outside of East Tennessee State and Western Carolina, there is a path for any of the other seven teams to find their way to the conference title.
It was a light week in the Southern Conference last week, but there was no shortage of fireworks. VMI hit a 56 yard field goal as time expired to send their game with Samford to overtime. In the extra frame, the Keydets were able to come away with their fourth win of the year. Everyone but Samford is in action this week.
There were a couple of surprising results in the Southern Conference last week and for vastly different reasons.It wasn’t Furman’ defeat of Samford that was the surprise, but the fact that they won by 44 points. There was also a surprise upset – VMI beating The Citadel for the first time since 2002 in “The Military Classic of the South”.
[ED. NOTE: This morning, Wayne Otto, one of our College Sports Journal contributors, passed away this morning after a short battle with cancer. This piece was one of many great pieces Wayne provided for us here at CSJ, and thought this was a fitting tribute to him. Rest in peace, Wayne.] For years all along.
Last week’s Southern Conference slate was headlined by an exciting 4OT game that saw Samford outlast The Citadel 61-55. Samford has rattled off three straight wins after a slow start. The SoCon looks to be shaking down into three distinct tiers with Furman, Samford and The Citadel as the top tier.
The Southern Conference continues to confound the rest of the FCS world. As soon as you think a team is heading in one direction, they turn it the other way. Samford looked lost early in the year, but now has two big wins in a row. ETSU lost to VMI, but turned around and picked up a win over Austin Peay. VMI couldn’t continue the momentum from their victory over ETSU, losing to lowly Robert Morris.
The Southern Conference continued its slow start to 2019 with only one team picking up a win against an FCS opponent. The one bright spot, Furman, gave Georgia State all it could handle, but just couldn’t finish the job in the end.
The Southern Conference did not get off to a great start in 2019, picking up only two out of conference wins. The poor weekend was punctuated by early favorite Wofford getting easily handled by South Carolina State, a team most picked to finish in the middle of the MEAC. Was it a blip in the radar? Or is the Southern Conference headed for a down year?
The Southern Conference promises to be one of the most tightly contested races in 2019. While the conference champion won’t be determined in week one, there are a couple of matchups that may be remembered in November when the playoff bracket is released.
The Southern Conference is always a competitive league, and 2019. The SoCon only put two teams in the playoffs in 2018, but there was at least one other team with an argument that they belonged as well. In 2019, as many as six teams feel they have at least a shot to qualify for the.
Western Carolina started the 2018 season with three straight wins, but it was all downhill from there as the Catamounts lost their last 8 games of the season.