Southern Conference football teams are a combined 4-13 to open the 2025 FCS season. In two months, that may have an effect the conference is seeking to avoid after last year.
The parity that reflected in the top half of the Southern Conference football standings last year made for a fun season, but there was a consequence:
The three teams that each finished with a 7-5 overall record fell short of an at-large bid to the FCS football playoffs.
Western Carolina, Chattanooga and ETSU were on the outside looking in as only champion Mercer represented the SoCon in the playoffs, down from three qualifiers in 2023 and just the conference’s third one-bid campaign in the first 11 seasons of the NCAA having a 24-team field (the high was four qualifiers in 2016).
SoCon teams opened the 2025 season with the intention of penning a different storyline, but there’s basically been more early season struggles than ever for the tradition-rich conference.
The first five teams picked in the SoCon’s nine-team preseason coaches poll have one combined win heading into Week 3 action on Saturday. Mercer (picked first) is 0-1, Chattanooga (second) 0-2, Western Carolina (third) 0-2, ETSU (fourth) 1-1 and Samford (fifth) 0-2.
Three of those eight losses are to FBS competition, but the five teams are a combined 1-4 against FCS nonconference opponents, with Samford also having a loss to The Citadel in the first conference game of the season. Overall, SoCon teams are 2-8 out of conference against FCS teams.
Among the losses: Mercer and 2023 SoCon champ Furman were upset at home by Presbyterian, and Western Carolina surrendered a 28-point second-quarter lead in a home loss to Gardner-Webb.
No SoCon team was ranked in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll this past Monday. Research by Scott Keeler, one of the voters, determined it marked the first time the conference was without a representative in the long-time national media poll or its predecessors that date to the 1980s.
While the season opened with the SoCon expected to have a competitive race – and it just may happen – the rough start might be enough for the conference to need a few teams to separate themselves and pile up the conference wins. If the conference wants to get back to having multiple playoff qualifiers, that is.
All 14 teams that received at-large bids to the 2024 FCS playoffs had at least eight wins in a maximum 12-game schedule. Only Mercer reached that total in Southern Conference football – and there’s one fewer at-large bid to go around this year with the Ivy League becoming an 11th conference to receive an automatic bid.
The NCAA’s 2025 FCS playoff pairings will be announced on Nov. 23.
For more FCS football coverage, follow on social media at X, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
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