Oct. 30 (Saturday)	Series	TV/Digital	Time
#RV/-- Furman at #RV/RV Chattanooga*	Furman leads 30-20	ESPN+	1:30 p.m.
Samford at #18/18 VMI*	Samford leads 6-2	ESPN+	1:30 p.m.
Western Carolina at Wofford*	Wofford leads 28-14	ESPN+	1:30 p.m.
#RV/RV Mercer at The Citadel*	The Citadel leads 11-6-1	ESPN3	2 p.m.

Notes
• The top five teams in the Southern Conference standings are either nationally ranked or receiving votes in this week’s polls.

• VMI, ranked No. 18 in both the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 and the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, welcomes Samford this week. Furman visits Chattanooga in a battle of two squads receiving votes, while Mercer, also receiving votes, visits The Citadel. ETSU, ranked No. 14 by the AFCA and No. 13 by Stats Perform, is idle.

• Western Carolina, which picked up its first win of the season by topping The Citadel 45-31 last week, visits a Wofford squad seeking its first league win.

• The Citadel defensive back Dominick Poole and Western Carolina DB Andreas Keaton were named to the Stats Perform FCS Jerry Rice Award watch list Wednesday.

• VMI was dominant from start to finish last time out, scoring just 8 seconds into the game on a pick-six in its 45-7 win at Mercer on Oct. 16. The Keydets played without All-American wide receiver Jakob Herres and leading rusher Korey Bridy, but backup running backs Rashad Raymond (163 yards, one touchdown) and Hunter Rice (112/3) combined for 275 rushing yards and four touchdowns as VMI cruised to the win.

• Samford and VMI have gone to overtime in each of their last two outings, with the Keydets emerging victorious both times.

• Bulldog quarterback Liam Welch is averaging 316.3 passing yards per game, good for seventh in the FCS this season. He is on pace to throw for more than 3,400 yards this season, which would rank inside the SoCon’s top 10 all time.

• Mercer downed Wofford 45-14 last week to keep pace with ETSU atop the league standings. The Bears scored the game’s final 31 points after the Terriers tied things at 14 early in the second quarter. Quarterback Fred Payton threw for 357 yards, the second-most in a game in Mercer’s modern history, and three TDs.

• The Citadel’s vaunted rushing attack ranks third in the FCS this season with 263.0 yards per game. Quarterback Jaylan Adams leads the squad with 97.9 per game in addition to his 102.4 passing yards per contest.

• In its 55-13 win last week, Chattanooga forced four turnovers and held Samford  26.7 points below its scoring average, 216.7 yards below its passing average and 291.5 yards  beneath its total offense average entering the game. QB Cole Copeland accounted for four TDs.

• Furman had No. 14 ETSU on the ropes last week but saw the Bucs score a touchdown with nine seconds left to escape with a 17-13 win. Tight end Ryan Miller had a game-high 139 receiving yards and a TD catch.

• Western Carolina got a career-best 401 passing yards and three TDs from quarterback Carlos Davis in its win over The Citadel last week. 

• Catamount kicker Richard McCollum is one of just three qualifying FCS players with a perfect field-goal percentage this season. He is 8-for-8 on the year with a long of 40 yards.

• Wofford linebacker Joe Beckett forced a fumble, recovered it and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown in the loss to Mercer last week.

• 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 174.71 per game, followed by ETSU’s Quay Holmes in eighth at 139.00 and teammate Jacob Saylors in 10th at 132.38.

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. Thirteen 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
Two SoCon players on Jerry Rice Award watch list (10/27)
SoCon names football players of the week (10/25)
Saturday’s football roundup (10/23)
SoCon Goes Pro: NFL Week 6 (10/21)