Sept. 25 (Saturday)	Series	TV/Digital	Time
*Wofford at VMI	Wofford leads 13-11	Nexstar/ESPN3	1:30 p.m.
*Mercer at Furman	Furman leads 10-7-2	ESPN+	2 p.m.
*ETSU at Samford	Samford leads 6-2	ESPN+	3 p.m.
Western Carolina at Gardner-Webb	Western Carolina leads 5-3	ESPN+	6 p.m.

 
Nexstar affiliates for the Sept. 25 Ingles SoCon Game of the Week
Wofford at VMI, 1:30 p.m.
ECBD/The Lowcountry’s CW (Charleston)
WHDF/North Alabama’s CW (Huntsville/Florence)
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
• Seven Southern Conference teams are in action this weekend, with three league games on the slate.
 
• Defending SoCon champion VMI will look to open its conference schedule with a win when it hosts Wofford in the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week on select Nexstar affiliates. The Keydets topped the Terriers 36-31 last season to snap an eight-game losing streak in the series and are seeking consecutive wins against Wofford for the first time since winning the first nine games in the series. Seth Morgan threw for 375 yards and four touchdowns, with wide receiver Jakob Herres hauling in 15 catches for 207 yards and three TDs.
 
• VMI moved to 2-1 on the season with last weekend’s 31-21 win over Cornell. Redshirt freshman quarterback Collin Ironside threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns to senior wide receiver Jakob Herres.
 
• Wofford dropped to 1-1 with its 31-10 setback to No. 24 Kennesaw State. Fifth-year linebacker Joe Beckett had a team-best 11 tackles in the loss.
 
• Samford, which opened its SoCon schedule with a 42-37 comeback win at Western Carolina on Sept. 18, welcomes No. 17/15 ETSU on Saturday. The Bucs outscored the Bulldogs 10-0 in the fourth quarter to claim a 24-17 win to open the 2020-21 spring campaign for both squads, snapping Samford’s three-game winning streak in the series. Quay Holmes ran for 125 yards and two scores.
 
• The Bulldogs got 118 yards and three touchdowns from DeMarcus Ware in their win at Western Carolina. Samford jumped out to a 21-3 lead early in the second quarter before WCU stormed back with 28 straight points to take a 31-21 third-quarter lead, but the Bulldogs replied with 21 straight and hung on for the wild win.
 
• ETSU cruised past Delaware State 38-6 last weekend, with Quay Holmes rushing for 157 yards and two TDs and linebacker Jalen Porter recording 4.0 sacks, the second-most in a game in program history, for 35 yards. Holmes leads the FCS with 368 rushing yards this season.
 
• Furman hosts Mercer on Saturday in the league opener for both sides. The Bears topped then-No. 17 Furman 26-14 last season, scoring the game’s final 19 points in the second of three straight wins over ranked opponents. Mercer quarterback Carter Peevy threw for a school-record 406 yards and two touchdowns, running for another score.
 
• Furman and Mercer both enter this weekend’s contest coming off of losses to FBS programs. Furman dropped its first game of the season last weekend, falling at NC State 45-7. The Paladins’ lone score came on Ryan Miller’s 16-yard TD catch from Hamp Sisson in the third quarter. Mercer, which was idle last week, fell 48-14 at No. 1 Alabama on Sept. 11, with quarterback Fred Payton throwing for 152 yards and a pair of TDs, including a 60-yard scoring connection with Devron Harper in the third quarter.
 
• Western Carolina steps back out of conference when it visits Gardner-Webb on Saturday. The Catamounts have won three straight in the series, last winning 42-27 in 2017.
 
• Catamount quarterback Rogan Wells had 441 yards of total offense in the shootout loss against Samford last weekend. The fifth-year graduate transfer threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 120 yards.
 
• Three SoCon teams are nationally ranked this week. ETSU is ranked 17th in the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 and 15th in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. Chattanooga is No. 23 in the AFCA poll, while VMI is No. 22 in the Stats Perform poll. Furman is receiving votes in both polls, while Samford is receiving votes in the Stats Perform poll.
 
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 entering 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 names football players of the week (9/20)
Saturday's football roundup (9/18)