This Week's Schedule:
August 28 (Thursday)
Chattanooga at Central Michigan 7 p.m.
Reinhardt at Mercer (ESPN3) 7 p.m.
August 30
Wofford at Georgia Tech (Fox Sports South) 12 p.m.
VMI at Bucknell 6 p.m.
Coastal Carolina at The Citadel 6 p.m.
Gardner-Webb at Furman 7 p.m.
Samford at TCU (SportSouth) 7 p.m.
Western Carolina at USF (ESPN3) 7 p.m.
• The Southern Conference begins its 93rd season of football this weekend.
• League play begins Sept. 6 when Furman visits Mercer.
• Chattanooga was picked first in both the preseason coaches and media polls. It is the first time since 1982 that the Mocs were named preseason favorites.
• Home teams went 21-15 in conference play during 2013.
• The Citadel, Furman and Mercer host nonconference games this weekend, while five league schools are on the road in nonconference play to open the season.
• Southern Conference teams take on four FBS programs this weekend. The SoCon has 27 wins over FBS programs all-time, including three victories in 2013. It was the ninth season that SoCon teams earned multiple wins over FBS programs.
• Mike Houston will make his head coaching debut with The Citadel on Saturday night. Houston takes over at The Citadel after three years at Lenoir-Rhyne.
• Furman and Samford advanced to the FCS playoffs in 2013. It was the 10th consecutive season the SoCon sent multiple teams to the playoffs. The Southern Conference leads all FCS leagues with 100 playoff victories.
• Chattanooga’s Davis Tull enters the season ranked 10th on the league’s career sacks list with 26.5.
CONFERENCE CROWN:
Furman, Samford and Chattanooga all shared the Southern Conference crown last season with identical 6-2 records.
• It was UTC’s first conference title since 1984 and the first for Samford since joining the league in 2008.
• Furman won its 13th conference title in 2013, the most in league history.
• Second-year program Mercer returns a league-high 25 starters for the 2014 season, while Western Carolina boasts 20 starters, including 10 on offense. Wofford returns a league-low 13 starters from last year.
• The league’s eight teams combined to return 68 percent of their starters (136 of 200) from 2013.