September 1
*The Citadel at Mercer (Fox Sports Southeast) - 7:00 p.m.
Mars Hill at Samford (ESPN3) - 7:00 p.m.
Wofford at Tennessee Tech - 7:00 p.m.
Shorter at Chattanooga (SDN) - 7:00 p.m.

September 2
Furman at Michigan State (Big Ten Network) - 7:00 p.m.

September 3
Western Carolina at East Carolina (ESPN3) - 6:00 p.m.
VMI at Akron (ESPN3) - 6:30 p.m.
ETSU at Kennesaw State - 7:00 p.m.

• Samford and Chattanooga host nonconference games this weekend while five league schools are on the road to open the season.

• The Citadel takes on Mercer in a league game Thursday night.

• Chattanooga was picked first in both the preseason coaches and media polls.

• Southern Conference teams will take on two FBS programs this weekend. The SoCon has 29 wins over FBS programs all-time.

• Brent Thompson will make his head coaching debut Thursday when The Citadel travels to Mercer. Thompson takes over at The Citadel after serving as offensive coordinator the previous two seasons.

• ETSU enters its first season in the Southern Conference since the 2003 campaign. The Bucs competed as an FCS independent program in 2015.

• Chattanooga and Western Carolina each had 10 players selected to the preseason all-conference team.

• Home teams were 13-15 in conference play last season and are 49-40 since the start of 2013.

• Thirteen of the 28 league games were decided by one possession in 2015. Since the start of the 2013 season, 38 of 92 (.413) league games have been decided by one possession.

• ETSU and Mercer return a league-high 22 starters for the 2016 season. Western Carolina returns a league-low 14 starters from last year.
• The league’s nine teams combined to return 70 percent of their starters (158 of 225) from 2015.