Sept. 12 (Saturday)
The Citadel at South Florida (ESPN+), 7 p.m.
Notes:
• The 99th season of Southern Conference football kicks off Saturday when The Citadel visits South Florida in the first of four scheduled fall contests for the Bulldogs.
• The Southern Conference Council of Presidents announced on Aug. 13 that the league would postpone conference competition for all fall sports to the spring due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, with schools able to participate in nonconference play in the fall at their discretion.
• The Citadel will be facing South Florida for just the third time and the first since 1998. The Bulls are the first of three FBS opponents for the Bulldogs this fall. The Citadel will visit Clemson on Sept. 19 and Army West Point on Oct. 10 and will host its lone FCS oppponent of the fall, Eastern Kentucky, on Sept. 26 in its only home football game of the fall.
• The Bulldogs boast a trio of preseason All-Americans in linebacker Willie Eubanks III, running back Alex Ramsey and quarterback Brandon Rainey, though VMI transfer Ramsey, who led the SoCon in rushing last season, has opted out of playing in the fall. Eubanks is the reigning SoCon Defensive Player of the Year.
• The Citadel also boasts a member of the FCS Preseason Punter of the Year Award watch list in junior Matthew Campbell.
• In addition to The Citadel’s Eubanks, Ramsey and Rainey, seven other SoCon student-athletes have earned preseason All-America honors, including Samford punt returner Montrell Washington, who has earned first-team honors from Athlon Sports, HERO Sports, Phil Steele and Stats Perform. ETSU’s Quay Holmes; Furman’s Adrian Hope and Devin Wynn; Chattanooga’s Chris James and Cole Strange; and VMI’s Robert Solderholm have also earned preseason All-America distinction from at least one of those organizations.
• Furman is ranked No. 15 and Wofford is No. 16 in the Stats Perform 2020 Preseason FCS Top 25. The Citadel and Chattanooga also received votes in the poll, with the Bulldogs finishing as the third team out. Stats Perform will not conduct a weekly poll this fall.
• Furman is coming off a 2019 campaign that saw it post an 8-5 overall record and a 6-2 SoCon slate en route to an at-large berth to the FCS playoffs. Wofford went 8-4 overall last season and won its final seven SoCon contests to clinch its third straight SoCon title and make its fourth straight FCS playoff appearance. Neither squad will compete this fall.
• The Citadel went 6-6 overall and 4-4 in league play last season. Chattanooga is coming off a 6-6 season under first-year head coach Rusty Wright. UTC finished third in the SoCon with a 5-3 league tally.
• The Citadel is ranked No. 21 in the Athlon Sports and HERO Sports preseason polls.
• Chattanooga faces FBS Western Kentucky on Oct. 24, while Western Carolina visits FBS Liberty on Nov. 14 and FCS Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 21.
• Sixteen former SoCon players are on 2020 opening-week NFL active rosters as of Sept. 8.
Recent news:
16 former SoCon players on NFL active rosters (9/8/20)
Eight on Stats Perform's Preseason All-America teams (9/2/20)
Campbell named to Punter of the Year watch list (8/26/20)
Furman, Wofford in Stats Preseason Top 25 (8/25/20)