Oct. 23 (Saturday)	Series	TV/Digital	Time
#RV/RV Chattanooga at Samford*	Chattanooga leads 32-10-3	ESPN3	1 p.m.
Western Carolina at The Citadel*	The Citadel leads 26-18-1	ESPN+	2 p.m.
#14/14 ETSU at #RV/-- Furman*	Furman leads 27-8	ESPN+	2 p.m.
*#RV/RV Wofford at Mercer*	Wofford leads 7-6	Nexstar/ESPN+	6 p.m.

Nexstar affiliates for the Oct. 23 Ingles SoCon Game of the Week
Wofford at Mercer, 6 p.m.
ECBD/The Lowcountry’s CW (Charleston)
WMUB (Macon)
WMYT/My 12 (Charlotte)
WWCW/The CW Virginia (Lynchburg/Roanoke)
WYCW/The CW62 (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville)

Play-by-play: Pete Yanity
Analyst: Jared Singleton

Notes
• The final two Southern Conference unbeatens picked up their first league losses last weekend, leaving the SoCon race wide open with five teams sitting on one loss at the midway point of the season.

• Mercer, which suffered its first SoCon loss in the form of a 45-7 setback to VMI last weekend, hosts Wofford on Saturday for the Ingles Southern Conference Game of the Week on select Nexstar affiliates.

• Also on Saturday’s docket, Chattanooga visits Samford, The Citadel welcomes Western Carolina and Furman hosts No. 14 ETSU.

• ETSU, which dropped a 21-16 decision to Chattanooga last weekend, dropped four spots to No. 14 in both the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 and the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. VMI, idle this week, moved back into the national rankings at No. 23 in the coaches’ poll and No. 21 in the Stats Perform poll after knocking off Mercer. Mercer and Chattanooga are receiving votes in both polls, while Furman is receiving votes in the coaches’ poll.

• Mercer, which got off to its best-ever SoCon start at 3-0, fell behind early against VMI, surrendering a pick-six just eight seconds into the game and a fumble that led to a touchdown to trail 14-0 before two minutes had elapsed. Carter Peevy’s 71-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Dirrim with 3:23 left in the game averted the shutout.

• Wofford has dropped five straight since a 24-22 win over Elon to open the season, but three of those losses have come against ranked foes. The Terriers have won seven straight against Mercer since the Bears joined the SoCon in 2014.

• Saturday’s Chattanooga/Samford contest pits the top defense in the league against the conference’s top offense. The Mocs pace the SoCon by allowing just 333.0 yards per game, while the Bulldogs lead the league and rank fourth in the FCS with 491.5 yards per game. UTC is 10-2 against Samford since the Bulldogs joined the league in 2008 and has won six straight in the series. The teams didn’t meet in 2020-21.

• Chattanooga defensive end Devonnsha Maxwell had 5.0 sacks for 27 yards in the Mocs’ win over then-No. 10 ETSU on Saturday, a program record and tied for fourth in a game in SoCon history. He was named the Stats Perform FCS National Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts. 

• Furman topped The Citadel 24-14 last weekend on the strength of Dominic Roberto’s career-high 132 yards rushing, which included a 90-yard scoring run late in the first quarter that gave the Paladins a lead they would not relinquish.

• ETSU had a season-high three turnovers against Chattanooga last weekend to see its perfect start to the season come to an end. The Bucs outgained the Mocs 342 yards to 317 and had nine more first downs but couldn’t overcome two fumbles that led to UTC touchdowns.

• The Citadel, which is tied for second in the FCS in rushing with an average of 277.3 yards per game, has eclipsed 300 yards in each of its last 10 meetings against Western Carolina.

• Western Carolina, coming off its bye, has been hampered by injuries on the offensive line but hopes to return Antwann Fann and Christian Coulter on Saturday. In addition, quarterback Rogan Wells is still working his way back from an injury suffered Oct. 2 at Chattanooga.

• Three SoCon players are in the top 10 in the FCS in all-purpose yards per game this season. Samford’s Montrell Washington leads the nation at 171.00 per game, followed by ETSU’s Quay Holmes in sixth at 140.71 and teammate Jacob Saylors in seventh at 139.29.

• Chattanooga offensive lineman Cole Strange was named the SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week on Wednesday, becoming the fourth football player to do so this season. The weekly award, open to all SoCon sports in season, honors academic as well as athletic achievement. Furman quarterback Hamp Sisson (Sept. 8) and placekicker/punter Timmy Bleekrode (Sept. 15) and Wofford kicker/punter Atkins Roberts (Oct. 6) have also earned the distinction so far this season.

SoCon Points of Pride
• The 2021 season is the 100th of Southern Conference football. The SoCon is the fifth-oldest NCAA Division I college athletic association.

• Since it began competing in FCS, the SoCon has amassed the second-most national championships with eight. Also boasting another eight national championship runner-up finishes, the league has 16 title-game appearances, the most among FCS conferences.

• The SoCon prides itself on quality and depth.
    • Eight of the nine current SoCon football members have participated in the FCS Playoffs with seven different schools receiving bids since 2016.
    • Overall, current SoCon football members have combined for 46 total FCS playoffs appearances.
    • Six of the nine SoCon teams appeared in an FCS top-25 national poll in the 2020-21 season.

• The SoCon has had seven Walter Payton Award winners, two Buck Buchanan Award winners and five Eddie Robinson Award winners. VMI Coach Scott Wachenheim won the Eddie Robinson Award (FCS National Coach of the Year) in 2020.

• Sixty-one former SoCon players and coaches have been enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

• The SoCon had 12 FCS All-America selections in 2020-21.

• The SoCon broadcasts all of its home games on ESPN+ and has an over-the-air television network that will air eight games in five southern states in 2021.

• Sixteen former SoCon players were on active NFL rosters last season and five more were on practice squads. Former Citadel wide receiver Andre Roberts, former Samford defensive back James Bradberry and former Georgia Southern kicker Younghoe Koo, who played in the SoCon as a freshman, were Pro Bowlers. Twelve former SoCon players are on NFL rosters this season, with seven more on practice squads.

• The SoCon has been playing Division I FCS football since the 1982 season. The NCAA created two subdivisions for Division I football beginning in 1978 with the creation of I-A (now FBS) and I-AA (now FCS). The SoCon was shifted from I-A to I-AA along with the Ivy League and Southland Conference following the 1981 season, joining the Mid-Continent, Big Sky, MEAC, SWAC, OVC, and Yankee conferences, along with a number of independents, as I-AA participants.

• The SoCon is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021. The league contested the first-ever collegiate conference basketball tournament in 1921, tackled freshman eligibility in 1922, became the first conference to adopt the 3-point field goal in basketball in 1980 and developed women’s championships in 1984.

Recent news
SoCon Goes Pro: NFL Week 6 (10/21)
Chattanooga's Strange named Student-Athlete of the Week (10/20)
SoCon names football players of the week (10/18)
Saturday's football roundup (10/16)