Big Opportunities Await the SoCon in the Non-Conference
We all know last season was one of those seasons that saw the SoCon really damage itself when it came to having multiple teams in the FCS playoffs due to the inability to pick up any key out of conference wins.
It was a combination of losses that led to only one real serious playoff contender. West Georgia's wins over Samford and East Tennessee State were big, while Chattanooga, which played arguably the toughest non-league slate, dropped games to both Tarleton State (l, 52-24) and then non-conference member Tennessee Tech (L, 45-17), as the two Top 10 foes soundly dealt the Mocs a pair of setbacks.
Mercer and Furman, however, both had by far the biggest setbacks of the non-conference season and were the brunt of many jokes throughout the rest of the season following week one and two losses to Presbyterian.
The Bears, who went on to win the SoCon crown by finishing off the campaign 8-0 in league play, dropped a 15-10 home contest to the Blue Hose. The very next Saturday, Furman ended up blowing a 28-7 lead against that same Pioneer Football League foe to lose 38-35 in overtime to that same Blue Hose team, which marked PC's first win in Greenville since 1972! It was arguably the two most embarrassing weeks for the league in decades.
There were some other setbacks that were disappointing as well, with The Citadel getting blanked, 38-0, at home by reigning national champion North Dakota State, while Gardner-Webb furthered the embarrassment with a 23-13 win over The Citadel
Losing to a non-scholarship program on the gridiron in back-to-back weeks made the SoCon the laughing stock of FCS football. With that in mind, the league is keen on making a big rebound this season, and with the addition of Tennessee Tech into the fold and with another attractive set of non-conference opportunities ahead in the 12-game regular-season, there is a lot of excitement and optimism that the league can get things turned around and going in the right direction as soon as the fall of 2026.
Here is a look at 10 non-conference games that I think could be crucial to the SoCon's success as a league that can get multiple playoff participants this fall.
1. Tennessee Tech vs. Monmouth (Aug. 29, 2026)--New Southern Conference member Tennessee Tech has a chance to get their journey started in a new league in strong fashion if they can find a way to get a win over a good CAA foe in week one, as the Monmouth Hawks will pay a visit to Tucker Stadium for the season opener.
The Hawks started the season with an 8-1 mark and reached a ranking as high as high No. 6 in the nation, but losses in two of their final three games of the season against New Hampshire (L, 34-13) and UAlbany (L, 31-24) was enough to keep the Hawks out of the postseason.
The Hawks will have a new head coach taking over a program that has been an upper echelon title contender ever since entering the CAA as a new league member prior to the 2022 season, as Jeff Gallo takes over for the highly-successful Kevin Callahan (197-151), who stepped down after 33 years as the head coach of the program. He's the only head coach to ever lead the Monmouth football program. He finished his coaching career just three victories shy of the 200-win plateau for his outstanding career.
Head coach Jeff Gallo inherits one of the most prolific passing attacks in all of FCS football last season, led by quarterback Derek Robertson (2,482 pass yds, 27 TDs) and after he went down with an injury, Frankie Weaver picked up right where Robertson left off, as he would throw for 1,355 yds and 14 TDs and only three INTs. Robertson has moved on, but Weaver is ready to step in and lead the prolific Hawks offense that led the nation in total output (498.7 YPG) last season, while ranking second nationally in passing offense (355.0 YPG).
Another key departure on the offensive side of the ball is running back Rodney Nelson, who rushed for 2,614 yards and 24 TDs in two seasons with the Hawks before transferring to Miami of Ohio. With leading wideouts Josh Derry and TJ Speight no longer around, it will be up to Gavin Nelson to be the go-to-guy in the passing attack this fall, as he comes off a campaign which saw him haul in 30 passes for 514 yards and six TDs. Tennessee Tech, which is coming off an 11-win season under second-year head coach Bobby Wilder, still has some experience around on both sides of the football.
The offense was decimated by both graduation and the transfer portal, with Nason Simmons the lone returnee of the five offensive linemen, while the skill positions were also hit hard by the portal, with not much in the way of continuity returning from last season. The good news is the Golden Eagles are solid at the skill spots, where leading rusher Quintell Quinn (101 rush att, 698 rush yds, 9 TDs, 6.1 YPC in 2025) and Maury Sullivan (50 catches, 631 yds, 4 TDs in 2025) are both back to give either Leatherwood or Osborne some great options in the passing attack.
Tennessee Tech ranked ninth in the nation in total defense last season, surrendering just 296.7 YPG in 2025. One of the holdovers from that outstanding defensive unit from last season are defensive backs Omar Philyaw and Leon Thomas, while Idris King, Xavier Randolph and Kanstin Brooks represent three of four starters from the defensive line.
This game will mark the first-ever meeting between a pair of teams that could enter the season ranked. Tennessee Tech finished the 2025 campaign ranked No. 15 in the final STATS FCS poll, while Monmouth finished up No. 20 in the final poll.
2. Furman at Richmond (Sept. 26, 2026)--The past couple of seasons has seen Richmond battle Wofford in a couple of close games, and this time around, former Chattanooga head coach and now Richmond boss Russ Huesman decided to change things up, as the two former SoCon old SoCon rivals will lock horns on the gridiron for the first time since the 2005 FCS Playoffs, which saw the Paladins take a thrilling 24-20 win over the Dave Clawson-led Spiders.
Led by dual-threat signal-caller Stacey Tutt and prolific future NFL running back Tim Hightower on offense, and a tenacious defense that allowed next to nothing through the ground or through the air.
The "Stonewall Defense" as the Spiders came to be known were at that time led by Huesman, who was the Spiders' defensive coordinator and in his second season leading a stout unit. Following Richmond's first and only national title in 2008, Huesman left to become the head coach at Chattanooga, where he would spend the next eight seasons before arriving to become Richmond's head coach in 2017.
Coming into that '05 matchup that was played at the old City Stadium and former NASCAR Track, the Spiders had won eight in a row and were the Atlantic 10 co-Champions (now the Coastal Athletic Association or CAA).
However, in Furman and its talented quarterback Ingle Martin, the Spiders had met their match, as the Paladins went on to get a four-point win, as Martin passed for 249 yards and a touchdown, while Jerome Felton finished with 92 rushing yards and a pair of scores in the narrow win. The '05 Paladins, which established themselves as the top offensive in program history, would finish out the night holding a 443-348 edge in total offense.
Richmond, which is coming off a 7-5 record overall and a 3-4 mark in their new conference--the Patriot League--heads into the 2026 season expected to be one of the team's to compete for the Patriot League title along with Lehigh and bitter rival William & Mary. That 7-5 season last fall.
Huesman will have the luxury of having a more experienced team returning for the upcoming season, which sees the return of 22 players that played at least played a role in the Spiders' first season in their new conference.
One thing that is always a staple of Russ Huesman-coached teams is their proficiency on the defensive side of the football, and that should again be the case this fall, as the Spiders are coming off a campaign, which saw them rank second in the Patriot League in both scoring defense and total defense, and welcome back EDGE Camden Byrd, who posted 11.5 tackles-for-loss and eight sacks last season and will be on the short list of candidates to be in the running for the Buck Buchanan Award this fall.
Also returning to the fold is All-Patriot League linebacker Carter Glassmeyer and safety Tayshaun Burney, as Richmond sports talents at all three levels on the defensive side of the ball. Burney led the team with 10 pass breakups last season. Jordan Allen and Lee Bruner IV are also back at safety, and were excellent against the run last season, as Richmond was one of the most physical units in the Patriot League last fall.
While the defense should be good, the offense is a little more of a question mark, but there are some key pieces returning that fans should be aware of. If there weren't so many question marks at quarterback, perhaps the Spiders would be the prohibitive favorite in their second year as a league member. Ashten Snelsire is back at quarterback after throwing for 848 yards, with eight touchdowns and five INTs a year ago.
Like Richmond, Clay Hendrix sees the strength of his Furman team heading into the 2026 season on the defensive side of the football, led by the return of Buck Buchanan Award runner-up Joshua Stoneking, who comes off a season in which he led all of FCS in both sacks, as he posted 20 tackles behind the line of scrimmage to go with his 18 quarterback takedowns last fall.
Furman's front seven will be among the top units in the FCS this fall, and that has a lot to do with having a guy like Stoneking returning to the fold, as well as linebacker Ryan Earl, who was an all-league selection a couple of years ago and was a preseason first-team all-league selection coming into the season, but had his season cut short after only a couple of games due to a season-ending lower body injury. Raleigh Herbert is also back at inside linebacker, and he had a nice season in Earl's absence.
The Paladins must improve in the secondary, where they were continuously torched by big plays in the passing game last season, which really the only glaring weakness the unit had collectively. Redshirt freshman Caleb Easterling could be one of the best players on either side of the ball for the Paladins this fall, and his impact could be enough to see substantial improvement right away.
On offense, there are plenty of questions. One is how to replace signal-caller Trey Hedden, who has moved on after setting a new single-season record for passing yards (2,697 yds), as he will continue his career at the FBS level suiting up for the New Mexico State Aggies.
Furman might be better off, however, as the Paladins got two talented transfers from the portal, in Western New Mexico's Connor Ackerley, as well as University of Michigan transfer Jake Garcia.
While Furman lost its top offensive weapon, in record-setting true freshman wideout Evan James, the Paladins will once again have one of the league's top tight ends, in junior Jackson Pryor, while UCF transfer Dwartney Wortham will be one of the newcomers to watch in the passing attack, while Luke Shields joins the program as a graduate student from Tennessee Tech.
CJ Nettles returns to the ground attack following a successful freshman season that saw him rush for 358 yards and a pair of score, while the Paladins added the services of another CJ--in CJ Stokes--who transferred in from Charlotte but spent the 2022 and '23 seasons as a member of Michigan's football program. He will have two years of eligibility remaining.
When the Paladins and Spiders square off on Sept. 26,. it will mark the first meeting between the two programs since that playoff clash back in 2005. The Paladins and Spiders will be meeting on the gridiron for the 26th time in series history, with the Spiders holding the 15-10 all-time series edge.
3. Western Carolina vs. Eastern Kentucky (Aug 29, 2026)--Western Carolina will head into the season as one of the favorites to win the Southern Conference title, which means they probably need to avoid going 1-3 in non-conference play once again in case the season comes down to a chip-shot field goal as it did last season.
The Catamounts, in fact, started the season with an 0-3 mark, as the were without star quarterback Taron Dickens, who was suspended for the first three games of the season. Not only can Western not afford a start like that this season, but the SoCon also can't afford to have the Catamounts go 1-3 to start the season.
Western dropped games to Gardner-Webb (L, 52-45), at Wake Forest (L, 42-10), and vs Elon (L, 37-31) to start the season, which meant the Catamounts pretty much had to go flawless the rest of the season as a result. The Catamounts nearly did, but in the end would falter, as they would see a six-game losing streak come to an end following a missed 24-yard field goal from Marcus Trout as time expired, allowing Mercer to escape Cullowhee with a 49-47 win, clinching a second-straight SoCon title in the process. The Catamounts came as close as they have since 1983 to winning a Southern Conference title, however, came up short for the 46th-straight season since participating in their first SoCon season back in 1977.
The lone non-conference win of the season for the Catamounts came against Campbell, as the Catamounts picked up a 42-35 win in Buies Creek last season, which marked the second game back for star Taron Dickens.
While Dickens has moved onto North Carolina, there is a proverbial buzz once again surrounding Catamount football entering the 2026 season. As good as the Catamounts have been in the SoCon in five seasons under head coach Kerwin Bell's leadership, the Purple and Gold have posted just a 6-11 record in non-conference games. Ultimately, that has been what has kept WCU out of the postseason in each of the past two seasons.
Just like the 2025 campaign, the Catamounts will open the season in the friendly confines of EJ Whitmire Stadium, welcoming the Eastern Kentucky Colonels into town for the late August opener under the lights.
Western Carolina and Eastern Kentucky have established a great rivalry since the two programs first met back during the 1988 season. In a matchup that saw two of the best coaches of that particular era go at in a mid-season, Division I-AA (now FCS) matchup at Whitmire Stadium, in WCU's Bob Waters and EKU's Roy Kid, and it would be the 1982 national champion and the 15th-ranked Colonels that would post a 35-14 win in the first-ever meeting between the two.
The Colonels are 2-1 all-time at Whitmire Stadium, with the only other win coming in what was Bell's very first game as the head coach back in 2021, as the Colonels came in to a packed EJ Whitmire Stadium in the season opener and were able to get a 31-28 win. The lone home win the Catamounts have against EKU in their history came back in 2006, as WCU tookn down the 19th-ranked Colonels, 20-17, as the win gave the Purple and Gold a 2-0 start to the campaign. The only problem was WCU would go on to lose its final nine games of the season. Kerwin Bell is 1-1 in his five seasons against EKU.
The Catamounts and Colonels last met each other some three years ago in Richmond in was an epic game that Catamount fans won't soon forget. It would really be the game in which Cole Gonzales announced himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the SoCon, as he passed for 340 yards and three touchdowns, which included orchestrating the game-winning drive and TD toss, finding backup running back Branson Adams for the 8-yard scoring strike to give the Purple and Gold the lead (27-24) and the defense would hold the Colonels to out of the red zone, forcing a long 52-yard field goal as time expired, which was well short. It was one of the biggest non-conference road wins for the Catamounts in quite sometime.
That win over a good EKU team certainly felt like WCU had arrived on the national scene, and they have remained in the SoCon Title and FCS Playoff conversation ever since that mid-September evening four years ago.
EKU is supposed to be in the mix for a UAC title this fall after what was a disappointing 2025 campaign, which saw the Colonels post just a 5-7 overall mark, including just a 3-5 record in the UAC under the direction of sixth-year head coach Walt Wells. The Colonels did have some bright spots last season, despite a below standard season, as the Colonels knocked off No. 15 Austin Peay, 34-20, in the middle of the season.
There is some continuity returning as well, with Myles Burkett returning under center as the starting quarterback. He started all 12 games for the Colonels last season, throwing for 1,473 yards and eight scores, while rushing for 317 yards and four scores.
The experience in the offensive backfield doesn't end with Burkett either, as leading rusher Brayden Latham returns to the fold after leading the Colonels on the ground last season, completing the campaign with 667 yards and three touchdowns on 154 rush attempts. Latham was a preseason All-UAC pick last season.
The Colonels will have their work cut out for them at wide receiver, as the top two pass- catching options--Marcus Calwise Jr. and Daquan Stanley--have both moved on, but Jayden West does return after a solid 2025 season. The redshirt junior logged action in 11 games, with eight starts, hauling in 20 passes for 244 yards and a pair of TDs last fall.
Along the offensive line, Antonio Gaines, Samuel Eskridge, Hunter Gulley and Anthony Johns all have starting experience, and were part of an offense that finished the 2025 season that struggled for a majority of the campaign, as the Colonels averaged just 19.3 PPG (ranked 100th in scoring offense in FCS in 2025) and posted just 262.5 YPG (ranked 123 of 126 teams in FCS in total offense) out total output. The Colonels had trouble keeping Burkett upright as well, as the Colonels surrendered a total of 37 sacks last season.
The Colonel defense stayed on the field more than they should have due to the offensive struggles, but the unit was solid throughout the 12-game slate in 2025, finishing 52nd nationally in total defense (364.2 YPG) and 37th in scoring defense (24.3 PPG).
Defensive back Jaheim Ward (82 tackles) and linebacker Braden Sullivan (79 tackles, 5.0 TFL, 2.5 sacks) have both moved on, however, third-leading tackler--defensive back Derek Taylor (78 tackles/42 solo stops, 1.5 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FR 75 yds for a TD) returns to provide some stability and leadership on the back end of the unit after starting all 12 games for EKU last season.
The Colonels, though, were hit hard by graduation and the transfer portal on the defensive side of the ball. Up front, the Colonels will look to Cincinnati transfer Lendric Barber and returning reserve Jalen Hand (14 tackles, 0.5 TFL) are among the players that will be asked to step up and provide the same type of physicality and pass-rush the Colonels were able to generate last season, in guys like Brad Gurley, who posted 10.5 TFL and 5.5 sacks last season, as he was part of a unit that generated 23 sacks last season.
Jackson Marshall was a big addition from the transfer portal after posting 66 tackles, 4.0 TFL, 0.5 sack and forced a fumble as a key cog in Gardner-Webb's linebacking unit last season.
All told, it will mark the ninth all-time meeting between the Catamounts and Colonels in the series, which began in 1988. The Colonels hold a 5-3 all-time series edge. Kickoff on Aug. 29 between the Catamounts and Colonels is set for 7 p.m. EST at EJ Whitmire Stadium.
4. Wofford at Elon (Oct. 10, 2026)--An old Southern Conference rivalry will get rekindled once again, as Wofford and Elon will do battle in an early October battle at Rhodes Stadium, as the Terriers close out their FCS portion of the non-conference slate. The Terriers have a challenging non-conference slate, which includes a pair of FBS games, with a contests against both MAC member Kent State (Sept. 12) and SEC member Ole Miss (Nov. 21). That makes the Terriers' games against both Gardner-Webb (Sept. 5) and Elon absolutely paramount.
The good news is for the first time under fourth-year head coach Shawn Watson, it appears the Terriers have a team talented enough to compete for a league crown and that's something we really haven't been able to say since 2019. Wofford returns more collective production on both sides of the football than any of the other nine teams in the SoCon.
Meanwhile, it's foe on Oct. 10 will be a familiar one, as the Terriers face former SoCon rival Elon, which like Wofford, is coming off a .500 season, as the Phoenix finished with a 6-6 record last season, including a 4-4 mark in the Coastal Athletic Association.
The Phoenix will be entering the eighth season under head coach Tony Trisciani this fall, and when his Phoenix take on the Terriers in early October, it will mark the 41st all-time clash between the two and will mark the first clash between the two since a 26-0 win by Elon in Spartanburg back in 2022.
The Phoenix and Terriers have met on three occasions since Elon played its final season as a Southern Conference member back in 2013. The Terriers have won two of those matchups, claiming what was a 24-22 win back in 2021, as well as a 19-7 playoff win, which came back during the 2018 season. The Terriers hold a 28-12 all-time series edge against the Phoenix, and that includes a 9-2 series edge held against the Phoenix in its 11 seasons as Wofford's league rival.
Elon has a history of winning titles at the NCAA Division II level, and though they came close in their decade membership as a SoCon member, could never quite break through against the likes of Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, and Wofford during the decade in which the Phoenix called the SoCon home from 2003-13. Elon's lone FCS Playoff appearance as a Southern Conference member came in 2009, when the Phoenix had arguably their best team, led by then head coach Pete Lembo.
That Elon team would finish out the 2009 season with a 9-3 record, which included a 34-6 trouncing of Wofford in Spartanburg during that particular campaign. Elon were led by a dynamic duo of quarterback Scott Riddle and wideout Terrell Hudgins on the offensive side of the ball, however, in the postseason, the Phoenix would be forced to go on the road to face off against defending national champion Richmond. The Spiders would end up handing the Phoenix the ultimate heartbreak, as 16-13 win over the Phoenix on a late field goal by the Spiders.
Elon's 27-yard field goal to tie the game as time expired as no good, and Richmond was able to survive one more week until meeting up with Appalachian State and Armanti Edwards in the ensuing round of the playoffs, losing the game in a similar fashion to how Elon lost its opening round contest to the Spiders.
The '09 season represented a breakthrough season for Elon's football program, however, as it would be the first of what would become four FCS Playoff appearances since moving up to the FCS level as an official member in 1999.
For Wofford fans, the 2012 meeting between the Phoenix and Terriers will forever be etched in the collective memory banks of Wofford football fans everywhere. On a rainy, late September Saturday afternoon in Elon, N.C., Terrier running back Eric Breitenstein would run into both the Wofford and Southern Conference record books, respectively, as the senior running back would set league and Terrier single-game records with 321 rushing yards and a pair of scores on 27 attempts, as the fifth-ranked Wofford amassed 500 yards on the ground en route to a 49-24 win.
So what is the forecast for Elon in 2026? Much like Wofford, the Phoenix figure to be right in the mix in the Coastal Athletic Association title race, however, since moving to the CAA from the SoCon, Elon's quest to win its first conference title since joining the NCAA Division I FCS ranks some 27 years ago has been especially challenging for a program that won two national titles (1980 and '81) and making six playoff appearances at lower levels before moving up.
The Phoenix are 0-4 all-time in the FCS Playoffs, which includes three losses to SoCon programs in the postseason. The Phoenix lost 15 players to graduation of the portal, but did manage to add six players that could be instant impact players this fall. Among those that should make Elon a viable title contender this fall is Samford transfer quarterback Brady Stober, who threw for 1,200 yards and had nine total touchdowns in a total of 10 games, including five starts.
Stober should be in line to take over at quarterback as the starter this fall after a season which saw the Phoenix average 28.4 PPG.
5. Mercer at Abilene Christian (Sept. 26, 2026)--For the second time in the history of the series, Mercer will do battle with Abilene Christian on the gridiron on Sept. 26, as the two battle in a key non-conference battle. The lone meeting between the Bears and Wildcats came back during the COVID-19 compromised 2020 season, as the Bears lost a heartbreaker in Macon, coming up just short in a 2017 setback against the Wildcats.
ACU's Blair Zepeda connected on a 38-yard field goal as time expired, as the Wildcats were able to capture what was a 20-17 win over the Bears at Five Star Stadium. Interestingly, new Mercer head coach Joel Taylor was a part of that last meeting some six years ago, serving as the defensive coordinator on Drew Cronic's staff at Mercer. Zepeda's game-winning points were part of a flurry that saw ACU score all 20 of its points in a six-minute span en route to the win.
Coming into the 2026 campaign, Abilene Christian is slated to play four teams that made the FCS Playoffs during the 2025 season, and has the third-toughest ranked schedule in all of FCS Football.
It marked just the third game in charge for Cronic and staff, and after an inauspicious 0-3 start to his career in Macon, under the direction of Cronic, Taylor and Co. would get things turned around a lot sooner than later. In that game some six years ago, it would mark the emergence of an especially aggressive and physical Mercer defense under the leadership Taylor, as it marked only the second time in the history of the program that a player recorded 20 or more tackles in a game, as safety Lance Wise topped the Bears defensive unit, which surrendered 372 yards on the day, which included 249 coming through the air.
While Taylor hopes the efficiency and result to be a better on the defensive side the ball in the second meeting with him now installed as the head coach of the program, he also likely hopes he will have more than a few players out there on the defensive side of the football that a Lance Wise possessed in that only other meeting between the two programs.
Like Mercer, the Wildcats ended up in the FCS Playoffs last season out of the UAC, finishing off a campaign that ended in the second round of the postseason with a 9-5 record under the direction of Keith Patterson, who enters his fifth season at the helm of the program, which he has helped grow into both a perennial FCS playoff contender, as well as being in the mix for a UAC title, which the Wildcats most certainly were throughout the 2025 season.
ACU was able to share the conference crown with Tarleton State last season, as both finished the season with 7-1 league marks in what was an incredibly strong season for the newly formed conference in 2023, which was a football-only league until this fall, as the league will now sponsor other sports other than football.
After picking up what was a 38-20 opening round win over Lamar, the Wildcats would ultimately see their season come to an end at the hands of another UAC foe, as the Wildcats traveled to Nacogdoches, TX for the second round of the playoffs and would fall, 41-34, to the seventh-ranked Lumberjacks in a game that would see seven lead changed before ACU finally succumbed to defeat.
That loss to SFA would see ACU end the season with a 9-5 overall record. The 2025 season marked the second-ever playoff appearance for the Wildcats after initially qualifying for the FCS Playoffs in 2024 following their historic first-ever UAC title.
The expectations for ACU are once again sky high, and with some significant pieces returning on both sides of the football, there's reason to believe they will once again be one of the favorites to claim the UAC title once again this fall. ACU went out and signed an exceptionally large class, which was heavy on transfer portal additions for the 2026 season in hopes of reloading for another conference title run this fall.
Among those expected to contribute immediately on the offensive side of the football is Coastal Carolina transfer quarterback Emmett Brown, who comes off a season in which he didn't see action for the Chanticleers due to injuries, but in his time at San Jose State, he started six games and passed for 1,600 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2024 for the Spartans. Brown was part of a big class, which included both high school and portal recruits, as ACU took in one of the more highly touted portal classes, welcoming in 17 transfers for the 2026 season.
Along with Brown, another exciting addition to the fold on the offensive side of the ball for ACU is North Texas transfer running back McKenzie McGill II, who rushed for 389 yards and five touchdowns last season for the Mean Green and had over 800 yards rushing in two seasons lining up in the UNT backfield.
One of the biggest additions on the defensive side of the ball for ACU from the transfer portal was safety Plae Wyatt from Rice, as he should come in and be an instant impact player for the Wildcats this coming season after providing veteran leadership to the back line of the Owls defense over the past three seasons, but has also battled some injuries. Last season, he posted 10 tackles and an INT after struggling to regain his form that derailed a promising start to the 2024 campaign.
Dillon Williams will add experience to a defense that lost a lot of maturity from last year's nine-win team, as he comes over from another UAC program--Central Arkansas---where garnered All-UAC honors in his time suiting up for the Bears.
ACU has lived up to the hype more often than not in their short time at the FCS level, and this season appears to be another one of those to believe the hype type campaigns for Patterson's team. Expect them to not only be a UAC title contender and defender once again, but also a prime playoff FCS Playoff contender again in 2026.
A non-conference win by Mercer on the road here would be one of the more accomplished non-conference wins by the SoCon and would go a long way in helping change the negative national narrative the league acquired once again last fall.
6. East Tennessee State vs. West Georgia (Sept. 19, 2026)--West Georgia was a team that proved to be one of these teams on the fast-track to FCS fame last season, and much of that momentum it gathered came via its non-conference performance, using what was a dominating 34-3 domination of Samford to open the season, which was promptly followed by a remarkable, 35-31, come-from-behind win over East Tennessee State a couple of weeks later in Rome.
That success would all be part of an 8-3 campaign a year ago, and that was one of the reasons why the UAC has been able to continue its rise as being one of the top conferences in FCS Football. The Wolves, who went 2-0 against SoCon competition last season, also lost their coach to a SoCon program, as Joel Taylor left to become the head coach at Mercer following Mike Jacobs' departure to become the new head coach at Toledo.
The Wolves acted fast to scoop up one of the hottest young names in FCS coaching circles, in Presbyterian head coach Steve Englehart, who had posted two wins of his own against SoCon foes last season, as his Blue Hose took down both eventual SoCon champion Mercer *(W, 15-10) and perennial SoCon power Furman (W, 38-35 OT) en route to leading the Blue Hose to a remarkable 10-2 record in the Pioneer Football League. That, however, was not enough to garner the Blue Hose an at-large invite to the FCS Playoffs last season.
The Wolves were also active in the transfer portal during the off-season to make sure they are able to sustain the success from a year ago, and one of the biggest acquisitions Englehart will have at his disposal this fall will be his quarterback at PC, Collin Hurst, who established himself as a proven winner with the Blue Hose over the course of two seasons as PC's quarterback.
Hurst was a 2024 Freshman All-America selection in 2024 and followed that up by being named the Pioneer Offensive Player of the Year this past season, and finished his two-year career with a 16-5 record as a starter under center. All told, he finished out his two seasons with the Blue Hose connecting on 384-of-570 passes for 5,066 yards, totaling 43 touchdown passes, including 26 this past season. He also has 231 rushing yards and seven scores on the ground in his career in Clinton.
Hurst will likely be the starter, although he will need to prove himself to his old coach in a new spot during the spring, as the Wolves also welcomed in Luke Marble (41-of-71, 492 yds, 4 TDs in 6 games for SDSU last season) from South Dakota State as another viable get at the QB position from the transfer portal, as is Colton Fitzgerald, who saw action in six games for the Wolves last season after he transferred north from Georgia Southern prior to the 2025 season.
Englehart was also able to persuade, some other high-profile Blue Hose to ultimately join he and Hurst in Carrollton, GA. for the upcoming campaign, with the likes of All PFL running back Justin Montgomery (rushed for 845 yards and 10 TDs in two seasons at PC/rushed for 744 yds in 2025), as well as a pair of talented defenders on the defensive side of the football, in linebacker Michael Torres (74 tackles, 7.0 TFL, 3.0 sacks) and safety Malik Lewis (59 tackles, 5.0 TFL, 1 FR in 2025).
The Wolves added some good talent on the offensive line from the portal, with Freddie Pelling coming aboard from Campbell, while Austin Powell joins the program from Mississippi Valley State. Wingate Edge rusher Elijah Barnes (14 tackles, 5.5 TFL. 2.0 sacks) is another one to watch on the defensive side of the ball this fall for the Wolves.
ETSU made its own noise once again in the portal, as it hopes to build off last season under second-year head coach Will Healy. The Bucs won their final four games of the season to finish 7-5 on the season, looking more like the team I thought they might be when I picked them to win the league in the preseason last season.
The Bucs will likely be led by a returnee under center, however, as Jake McNamara, who is the younger brother of former ETSU quarterback Cade McNamara (shared the starting duties with UNC transfer Jacolby Criswell last season), is in line to start after putting together an impressive spring.
The Bucs and Wolves will be meeting for just the second time in series history, as ETSU would rather not remember the first. West Georgia would set about doing the unthinkable, which was much to the delight of sparse crowd of 4,786 fans on-hand for the season opener at University Stadium, as the 25th-ranked Wolves took a second win of over a SoCon team in a three-week span to open the season, downing ETSU, 35-31, in come-from-behind fashion before 4,786 fans at University Stadium.
Unlike ETSU's meltdown at home vs, NDSU a year earlier, the latest collapse felt much different for the Bucs. It also signaled maybe the final best opportunity at a high-quality non-conference win for the league.
The Bucs had held as much as a 15-point lead early in the third quarter, as Devontae Houston's 11-yard scoring reception from quarterback Jacolby Criswell had staked ETSU to a 28-13 lead with 9:26 remaining in the third quarter. It would be the final touchdown of the night, as the only points the remainder of the night would be a Ewan Johnson 46-yard field goal with 4:07 left in the third, which would give the Bucs a 31-20 lead.
The timeline of the collapse in 2025 was similar to that of the one in '24 against the Bison. The final seven minutes of the game would prove to be the Bucs' undoing. First, UWG quarterback Davin Wydner found running back Latrelle Murrell out of the backfield for a 27-yard pitch-and-catch, cutting ETSU's lead to just three following a successful two-point conversion, making it a 31-28 game with 6:40 remaining.
On ETSU's ensuing possession, the Wolves would then force the ETSU offense to go three-and-out to get the ball back to their offense. However, after gaining one first down, it appeared the Bucs might have staved off the furious rally, as ETSU defensive back Jivon Oggs picked off his second pass of the season, which ended UWG's drives with just under two minutes remaining.
ETSU's offense then took the field looking to run out remaining time off the clock, however, the only problem was the Wolves still had two timeouts in their back pocket. The Wolves defense did its job, and good time management and use of those timeouts would give the ball back to the Wolves with just 42 seconds remaining.
Then, the unthinkable happened. On 2nd-and-10 from its own 44, Wydner found an unbelievably wide-open TJ Lockley for a 51-yard pass connection, getting the Wolves all the way to the ETSU 5 with time winding down. Without any timeouts, the Wolves rushed to the line of scrimmage and Wydner spiked the ball to stop the clock.
After an offsides infraction was flagged against the Bucs moved it to the 2, Wydner found wideout DeAndre Buchanan for a 2-yard scoring strike in the corner of the end zone, giving UWG a 35-31 lead with just 15 seconds remaining following the PAT. It was the first lead of the night for the Wolves and the only one they would end up needing.
When UWG rolls into William B. Greene Jr. Stadium on Sept. 19, the Bucs will be laying in wait looking to exact revenge and get one back for the SoCon. This game is one of the most important of the non-conference season, as I expect UWG will be a ranked team with they come to town in the fourth week of the season. The Wolves actually get an early test against a SoCon team, as the Wolves will open the season against ETSU's bitter rival Chattanooga on Aug. 27 in Carrollton.
7. Samford vs. Southern Illinois (Sept. 3, 2026)--Things had to get better in Homewood, which is precisely why Chris Hatcher was let go nine games into the 2025 season and the search for his replacement began immediately. That's where the Bulldogs brass landed upon a name they had known from the past, in John Grass--a Clemson staff consultant for the past four seasons.
Grass hired a staff largely made up of guys he convinced to come from Clemson to join him in Homewood. The former Jacksonville State and UAB coach have an incredibly tough rebuilding project, and that includes creating a new winning culture, which can't always be done overnight. That's because bringing in talented players isn't the only answer, even though the Bulldogs have done a great job of finding talent from both the portal and the high school ranks.
You can begin to create a winning culture by establishing confidence and getting meaningful wins. On the first Thursday night in September, the Bulldogs have a chance to do just that in the friendly confines of Pete Hanna Stadium, as perennial Missouri Valley Football Conference power Southern Illinois pays a visit.
Fans of the Bulldogs can only hope the game goes better than when West Georgia visited to for the opening Thursday night game a year ago, as the Wolves left Homewood with a resounding 34-3 setting off warning alarms for Hatcher and Samford football in 2025. The season seemed almost over before it had even gotten a chance to begin.
Southern Illinois will bring with it to Homewood its own winning tradition, which sees the Salukis coming off a 2025 season, which saw them post a 7-5 overall record, including a 4-4 mark inside the MVFC, missing out on the FCS Playoffs for a second-straight season. In fairness, the 7-5 record of a year ago was a big improvement of the 4-8 team that the Salukis had in 2023.
While the game will be the second of the season for the Bulldogs, which open up in Huntsville in the FCS Classic at the Cramton Bowl against North Alabama, it will in fact be the season opener for the Salukis in 2026. I suppose that is a built-in advantage for a the sure underdog Samford coming to a battle of dog breeds, and that's if you're looking for a built-in advantage for the SoCon half of the matchup. The game for the Salukis will be part of an 11-game slate in 2026 for head coach Nick Hill and staff, as he was given a contract extension just this past spring.
The Salukis also have some continuity built in to that decision to extend Hill, as he has some experience returning in key positions for SIU entering 2026. Among those experienced performers expected to be difference-makers for the Salukis this fall is quarterback DJ Williams. Williams was solid in leading the Salukis' offense last season, as he finished out the season connecting on 222-of-352 passes for 2,846 yards, with 22 TDs and only five INTs.
The Salukis also welcome in one of the more celebrated transfer classes in the MVFC, as UNLV wideout Travion Dyson is one of those expected to make an immediate impact on the offensive side of the football this fall. In 2023, the 6-3 wideout was able to lead his previous program--Mary (Bismark, N.D.)--in receiving, playing in a total of 20 games over the course of two seasons. He led Mary in receiving yards during the 2023 season, as he hauled in 22 passes for 648 yards and eight TDs.
Another potential playmaker at Williams' disposal on the offensive side of the football could be Chattanooga wideout Markell Quick, who hauled in 37 catches for 686 yards and four TDs in 2025.
The defensive line was a particular focus on the defensive side of the ball for head coach Nick Hill and staff, as defensive end Caleb Saner out of Southwest Baptist highlights the list of signees, posting 69 tackles, 20.5 TFL and nine sacks last fall. He could be an instant impact player as a member of the pass-rush for SIU in 2026.
The game will mark the first-ever meeting between the Salukis and Bulldogs on the college football gridiron, and a win for Grass and company in a game of this magnitude early in the season over one of the power conference programs of FCS football would definitely be seen as a statement win, as well as being a major feather in the cap for the SoCon early on in the season.
8. Western Carolina at Campbell (Sept. 5, 2026/3:30 p.m. EST)--It's never easy for SoCon teams to go into Buies Creek, N.C., and come out victorious, however, that is exactly what a pair of Southern Conference programs were able to do last season, as both Furman and Western Carolina were able to go in steal wins at Barker-Lane Stadium a year ago. For Western Carolina, its 42-35 win over the Camels marked the only win of the non-conference season, and was the first-ever win posted by the Catamounts in series history after losing each of the first three times the two old North State programs strapped it one against the other, including a 24-16 home loss by WCU in 2024, which was a setback that likely costs Kerwin Bell's club a spot in the FCS postseason.
With that said, last season's 42-35 road win by the Purple and Gold marked the lone non-conference win of the season for WCU, which started the campaign with an 0-3 start to 2025 campaign, with starting quarterback and Walter Payton Award candidate Taron Dickens sidelined due to a suspension. The Campbell game marked the return for the then redshirt sophomore quarterback, who passed for 427 yards and four scores in a game, which the star quarterback showed little, if any, rust.
Dickens led the explosive Catamount offense to a total of 564 yards, while WCU needed every bit of that offensive output to escape the 35 points and 437 yards of total offense put up by the Camels against a porous Catamount defensive unit a year ago.
The Catamounts held as much as a 25-point lead (35-10) at one point early in the third quarter of that contest before having to hold on for dear life to secure the win, as the Camels outscored WCU 22-7 over remaining 26 minutes of game clock.
The Camels, which also lost a 28-24 heartbreaker to Furman at Barker-Lane Stadium earlier in the season in 2025, will once again face a pair of SoCon foes as a part of their non-conference slate, as Campbell will open the season in Johnson City against East Tennessee State.
The Camels have overhauled the defensive staff during the off-season, as head coach Braxton Harris heads into his third season at the helm of the Camels' football program, with Campbell having struggled in each of his first two seasons, including limping to what was just a 2-10 mark a year ago, including a 2-6 mark in the CAA. Harris will need to see the Camels make some progress this season, as he has posted just a 3-9 campaign in his first season on the job back in 2024.
The Camels were explosive offensively at times a year ago, and that explosiveness was thanks in large part to the combination of both quarterback Kamden Sixkiller and running back JJ Cowan, as both return to the fold this fall and will make Campbell potentially one of the top offensive units in the CAA this fall. Sixkiller alone was worth the price of admission in 2025 for the Camels offense, as he finished the season by passing for 2,012 yards and 12 TDs, with five INTs. He was the Camels' third-leading rusher last season, as he finished out the season with 206 yards and three TDs on 74 rush attempts. In the loss to Western Carolina, Sixkiller was able to pass for 205 yards, with a touchdown and INT.
JJ Cowan also returns to the Campbell backfield this fall after turning in what was a solid 2025 season, as he would lead the Camels with 402 yards and five TDs on the ground on 85 attempts (4.7 YPC) last fall. Cowan also hauled in eight passes for 39 yards and a score out of the backfield a year ago.
Sixkiller and Cowan were part of a Campbell offense that averaged 23.4 PPG and 346.1 YPG last season, but it was the lack of having a consistent ground game which ended up costing the Campbell offense most of all last season, as the Camels averaged just 119.4 YPG on the ground a year ago, which ranked in the bottom third of FCS football a year ago. The offensive line was the major issue, and the one main consistent performer for the Camels along the offensive front--left tackle Freddie Pelling--has transferred out of the program to play for West Georgia in 2026.
While Pelling was the best and most consistent performer along the offensive front last season for the Camels, the silver lining is that three starters return along the offensive front heading into 2025, as Campbell looks to improve its ground game this fall.
While not an offense that is predicated on the run, Campbell's run-and-shoot type offense will need it to be good enough to make the prolific passing attack work for Sixkiller and co. in 2026. Center Jayden Colvin, left guard Kameron Durant, and right guard Mason Merriwether all return for the Camels heading into 2026.
The taller order for the Camels will be overall improvement on the defensive side of the football, but that's also true for the Catamounts, who have hired a new defensive coordinator of their own for the 2026 season, in Nick Reveiz. This game doesn't need to be a stumbling block for WCU if its going to be a successful non-conference season for the SoCon.
9. Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee Tech (Sept. 17, 2026/2:30 p.m. EST)--This matchup was at one time some prime viewing content as a conference rivalry inside the Ohio Valley Conference, and when the two tee-it-up on the third Saturday in the month of October, it will mark the 77th all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Colonels having won a commanding 56 times in the history of the series, which included a 22-game winning streak in the series between the two from 1976-97, as EKU holds a commanding 56-20 all-time series lead. The series got its start way back in 1937, with the Colonels claiming a 6-0 win. In fact, the Colonels won each of the first five meetings between the two programs by a combined score of 78-12, which included four shutouts. The Golden Eagles would eventually break through and capture their first win in the series, 20-7, in Richmond in 1947. The 2026 clash, however, will mark the first between the Colonels and Golden Eagles for the first time since 2019, which saw the Colonels hand the Golden Eagles a 22-10 setback at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond. That win would cap off a 6-5 campaign for the Golden Eagles in what was then head coach DeWayne Alexander's first season at the helm.
The Golden Eagles and Colonels met in every season from 1945-2019 before the Colonels officially left the OVC in all sports in 2021, eventually joining the UAC. The Golden Eagles have lost each of the past three clashes between the former rivals, with the last time Tennessee Tech having tasted victory in the series being the 2021 season, picking up what was a 33-30 thriller in overtime in Cookeville a decade ago on Oct. 1, 2016.
If there is one thing you can say for Eastern Kentucky, it's that there they must be trying to make up for lost time facing SoCon foes in the non-conference, as the Colonels will face three SoCon foes in the 2026 campaign, with games at Western Carolina (Aug. 29), vs. Chattanooga (Sept. 12) and Tennessee Tech (Oct. 17).
Adding at least another bit of intrigue to the first meeting in seven years between the two longtime rivals is that each has been named among the top transfer portal signing classes in the FCS heading into 2026 according to Sports Illustrated FCS Football Central writer Timothy Rosario. The Colonels come in ranked No. 17 in a list of 30 teams compiled by Rosario, while the Golden Eagles came in at No. 1.
Eastern Kentucky made some noise in the portal, and as you'll note above when I detailed the matchup with Western Carolina, the Colonels suffered some pretty big losses on the defensive side of the ball from a year ago, which is a unit that was solid, despite being on the field for a majority of the season as a result of having one of the most anemic offenses in the nation in 2025.
Obviously losing a player like defensive end Brad Gurley is a huge blow to the defense, which saw its pass-rush pretty much revolved around Gurley's ability to get pressure off the edge. With that in mind, bulking up that defensive front was a top priority for the Colonels' coaching staff, as head coach Walt Wells brought in three defensive linemen as a part of EKU's portal haul, with Jayden Marable (Memphis), Keshawn Hayden (Central Michigan) and Payne Miller (Western Illinois) highlighting those new additions.
This feels like a matchup that, for the first time in quite some time, the juggernaut program feels like Tennessee Tech and not Eastern Kentucky when the two meet for the first time in seven years in mid-October.
TTU head coach Bobby Wilder has turned the Golden Eagles to a force to be reckoned with in the FCS. EKU gained much of its fame and tradition as a football program under the direction of Hall-of-Fame coach Roy Kidd, which led the Colonels to the 1982 national title. This game is another the SoCon should a heavy favorite in, and dropping this game would be disappointing.
10. The Citadel vs. Charleston Southern (Sept. 12, 2026)--This is one of those non-conference games within the Southern Conference that is a must win, as a loss would prove devastating. Just ask Furman, which provided Charleston Southern's lone win in 2024, and much like the losses by Mercer and Furman to Presbyterian last season, were an eyesore not only for the Paladins, but for the league as a whole.The Bulldogs are coming off a 4-8 season, which included a 3-5 mark in the league in what was head coach Maurice Drayton's third season at the helm. That was a one-game, decline from the 2024 season overall record, which had seen the Bulldogs finish with a 5-7 mark, however the 3-5 league ledger in 2025 was identical to '24.
Not only do the two programs not have an affinity for one another, but more often than not, it's a series that has seen same pretty good ballgames in the relatively short history of the rivalry, with the Bulldogs claiming what was a thrilling 22-21 win over Charleston Southern back in 2024, winning the Low Country Boil trophy.
The Bulldogs are confident and for the first time under Drayton in a somewhat chaotic previous three seasons, this feels like a season in which The Citadel has a chance to be pretty good if things fall right, and I say that because things finally seem settled at the quarterback spot, as redshirt junior Quentin Hayes returns as the unquestioned starter for the team after transferring in during the late summer in 2025.
With full control of a nationally ranked Top 10 ground attack, the 2026 season could be one that sees the Bulldogs make an exponential improvement rather than one that sees them take another incremental step.
Coach Gabe Giardina is probably hoping for the same thing, who led the Bucs to a 5-7 campaign in 2025, which is needless to say that it was indeed an exponentially huge step in the right direction for CSU, which entered the campaign off a 1-11 mark in 2024.
When the two meet on Sept. 12 at Johnson-Hagood Stadium, it will mark just the 15th all-time meeting between a pair of programs that are looking to break into the upper echelon of their respective leagues.
For Charleston Southern, it has a chance to make a move up the ladder in the OVC/Big South, especially with the departure of Tennessee Tech for the SoCon. The Citadel believes it is ready to take the next step, and if that is to be the case, a strong performance in the home opener is paramount. The Citadel nor the SoCon can afford to have a loss in the game under any circumstance. With its 22-21 win two years ago in Ladson, the Bulldogs assumed an 8-6 lead in the all-time series.
A loss by The Citadel could undo a lot of good wins by the league, especially in a year like this, as there are no Top 10 blockbuster win opportunities like there have been in the previous couple of seasons.
Final Thought: This isn't a great non-conference slate of games for the SoCon in 2026 when it comes to games that make you salivate in anticipation for kickoff. There aren't as many opportunities as possible for wins over the likes of national powers like Tarleton State, UC Davis, and North Dakota State like there were last season, and that might be a good thing. A lower profile for the SoCon coming into the year won't necessarily be a bad thing, but the league needs to take care of business against the likes of Presbyterian, East Texas A&M, Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb. Those are games the SoCon must win if it wants to have any aspirations of multiple playoff participants come late November. This is a non-league schedule that should see the SoCon do well...fingers-crossed of course.
Other Games of Note:
Chattanooga at West Georgia (Aug. 27, 2026)
Chattanooga at Eastern Kentucky (Sept. 12, 2026)
Furman vs. South Carolina State (Sept. 19, 2026)
The Citadel at South Carolina State (Oct. 3, 2026)
ETSU vs. Campbell (Aug. 29, 2026/5:30 p.m. EST)
Mercer vs. East Texas A&M (Aug. 29, 2026/7 p.m. EST/FCS Kickoff Classic)
Mercer vs. Presbyterian (Sept. 5, 2026/6 p.m. EST)
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