Dec. 11 (Saturday)	Series	TV/Digital	Time
No. 7 seed ETSU at No. 2 seed North Dakota State	First meeting	ESPN/online	12 p.m.

Notes
• Southern Conference champion and No. 7 seed ETSU visits Missouri Valley Football Conference champion and No. 2 seed North Dakota State for a quarterfinal-round matchup in the NCAA Division I Football Championship on Saturday. The game is set for 11 a.m. CT / 12 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN.

• The SoCon has gone 110-78 (.585) all-time in the FCS playoffs, winning eight national titles. ETSU is in the FCS playoffs for the third time in program history and the first since 2018.

• ETSU won its first outright SoCon title and its second overall by going 7-1 in league play this season. The Bucs are 11-1 overall, opened the season with a 23-3 win at FBS Vanderbilt, and advanced to the FCS quarterfinals with a thrilling 32-31 win over Kennesaw State in which ETSU scored 15 points in the final 1:28, capping the run with a touchdown and two-point conversion with just 35 seconds left. Running back Quay Holmes accounted for three total touchdowns in the contest, including the winning 4-yard TD catch in the final minute.

• Eight-time national champion North Dakota State is 11-1 overall and went 7-1 in MVFC play to claim the league crown. The Bison’s lone loss came to No. 12/9 South Dakota State on Nov. 6. They beat fellow MVFC squad Southern Illinois 38-7 in the second round of the playoffs to reach the quarterfinals for the 12th straight season, getting 112 rushing yards and two TDs from TaMerik Williams.

• ETSU enters the contest ranked No. 8 in the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 and No. 9 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. NDSU is ranked third in both polls.

• SoCon teams are 0-5 against North Dakota State in the playoffs, with all five meetings coming in Fargo. The last meeting came in the 2017 quarterfinals, with NDSU topping Wofford 42-10 en route to the national title.

• Three finalists for Stats Perform legacy awards will be participating in Saturday’s game. ETSU’s Holmes is a finalist for the Walter Payton Award and is one of three players invited to the Jan. 7 awards ceremony. Bucs coach Randy Sanders and NDSU coach Matt Entz are both finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award and are their respective leagues’ coaches of the year.

• Holmes has rushed for a career-best 1,518 yards this season, while junior Jacob Saylors has run for 985, also a career best, and needs just 15 yards for the duo to become the first SoCon teammates to both rush for 1,000 in a season since 2015 and just the 12th pair in league history to do so overall. Holmes, whose rushing total is second in the FCS, leads the subdivision with 126.5 yards per game and is second with 17 rushing touchdowns.

• With 87 rushing yards against Kennesaw State, Holmes moved into 10th in SoCon history with 4,229 career rushing yards. Holmes also had 95 receiving yards for 182 all-purpose yards on the day, pushing his career total to 6,296, which is fifth in SoCon history.

• North Dakota State leads the FCS in scoring defense, allowing just 11.7 points per game. The Bucs are 12th in scoring offense at 35.2 points per game.

• Two of the best rushing attacks in the FCS will be on display Saturday. North Dakota State is second in the FCS at 281.6 yards per game, while ETSU is eighth at 225.8 yards per game. NDSU is also in the top 10 in the FCS in rushing defense and total defense, allowing just 83.1 rushing yards per game to rank sixth and 263.8 total yards to rank fourth.

• Ten NDSU players claimed 11 spots on the MVFC all-conference teams, with Christian Watson earning first-team spots at wide receiver and all-purpose.

• ETSU running back Quay Holmes ranks fourth in the FCS with 151.42 all-purpose yards, with teammate Jacob Saylors right behind him at 147.83 yards per game. The duo is the only set of teammates in the top 10, while Samford’s Montrell Washington, who leads the FCS at 176.18 yards per game, gives the SoCon an FCS-best three players in the top 10.

• ETSU linebacker Jared Folks, the 2020-21 SoCon Defensive Co-Player of the Year, is the first player in NCAA history to receive an eighth year of eligibility. The 26-year-old began his career at Temple in 2014 and has been at ETSU since 2018, extending his career to an unprecedented eighth season through a combination of medical waivers and the COVID exemption.

• Western Carolina quarterback Rogan Wells and ETSU linebacker Donovan Manuel were recently named the SoCon players of the month for November.

• Six SoCon student-athletes and one coach are among the finalists the Stats Perform legacy awards. ETSU running back Quay Holmes and Samford quarterback Liam Welch are among the 25 finalists for the Walter Payton Award, with Holmes finishing among the top three and Welch tying for 14th in the voting; VMI linebacker Stone Snyder (13th) and Chattanooga defensive end Devonnsha Maxwell (14th) are among the 25 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award; The Citadel cornerback Dominick Poole and Western Carolina safety Andreas Keaton are among the 23 finalists for the Jerry Rice Award; and ETSU coach Randy Sanders is among 17 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award.

• The SoCon also had finalists for all of the major national awards last season, with three for the Walter Payton Award, two for the Buck Buchanan Award and two for the Jerry Rice Award in addition to Eddie Robinson Award winner Scott Wachenheim of VMI. All of them returned this season.

• The Southern Conference has been among the best in the FCS at recruiting dynamic new talent in the last five seasons. Since 2016, six SoCon freshmen have finished in the top five of the voting for the Jerry Rice Award, the most of any conference.

• Chattanooga offensive lineman Cole Strange was named the SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week on Oct. 20, 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.

• Strange recently earned an invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl.

• Chattanooga junior offensive lineman McClendon Curtis has been named to the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee Student-Athlete Connection Group. He is one of just 12 nationwide in all three NCAA divisions to earn a spot in the group.

• Chattanooga defensive back Jerrell Lawson was announced by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) as one of 176 semifinalists for the 2021 William V. Campbell Trophy.

• Eighteen different SoCon student-athletes earned preseason All-America honors from at least one organization, with VMI wide receiver Jakob Herres a consensus first-team pick.

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 2020-21.

• 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+ or ESPN3 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
Mercer, Samford lead SoCon all-sports races (12/9)
ETSU's Holmes among top three for Payton Award (12/7)
Sheridan to be enshrined in College Football HOF Tuesday (12/6)
ETSU rallies past Kennesaw State in final minutes (12/4)
Keeler's Corner: Recapping the regular season (12/3)
SoCon excels in annual Graduation Success Rate data (12/2)
SoCon names November athletes of the month (12/2)