Dec. 9 (Friday)	Series	TV/Digital / Stats	Time
#9/8 Samford at #4/4 North Dakota State	First meeting	ESPN2 / ESPN online / Stats	6 p.m. CT / 7 p.m. ET

Notes
• Southern Conference champion and No. 6 national seed Samford visits defending national champion and No. 3 national seed North Dakota State in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship on ESPN2 on Friday.
 
• This will be the first meeting between the squads.
 
• The SoCon has gone 112-80 (.583) all-time in the FCS playoffs, winning eight national titles. Furman claimed the first of those in 1988, becoming the first private school to win what was then the I-AA championship.
 
• North Dakota State has won a record nine FCS titles in 11 years, with its first coming in 2011. This Bison are 42-3 in the FCS playoffs all-time, including a 32-1 mark at home.
 
• Samford is ranked No. 9 in the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 and No. 8 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, while North Dakota State is ranked No. 4 in both polls. Samford is 4-0 against ranked FCS squads this season, while NDSU is 2-1.
 
• Samford has won a school-record 10 straight games heading into Friday’s contest, with its lone loss of the season coming to defending FBS national champion Georgia.
 
• Samford will become the first squad to face the defending FBS and FCS national champions in the same season since the 2007 Michigan squad, which famously lost to defending FCS champion App State – then a member of the SoCon – to open the season and beating defending BCS champion Florida in the Capital One Bowl to end the season.
 
• The Bulldogs are 11-1 overall and went 8-0 in league play to win their first-ever outright SoCon title.
 
• The Bulldogs, who are in the playoffs for the first time since 2017, hosted a playoff game for the first time in last week’s 48-42, overtime win over Southeastern Louisiana. Samford, in its sixth appearance, is 3-5 in the FCS playoffs all-time, winning both previous games in 1991, when it reached the semifinals.
 
• Against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, redshirt freshman Quincy Crittendon entered in relief of Walter Payton Award finalist Michael Hiers and proceeded to go 26-for-40 for 314 yards and four touchdowns through the air, adding another 94 yards and a TD on the ground.
 
• Hiers finished fourth in the Payton Award voting. He leads the FCS with a .768 completion percentage and is sixth in passing yards (3,317) and fourth in passing TDs (35).
 
• Samford’s Chris Hatcher was named the AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year on Tuesday. Hatcher is also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award.
 
• At 10-2 overall, North Dakota State has won five straight since dropping a 23-21 decision to South Dakota State for its lone FCS loss of the season. The Bison’s only other loss was a 31-28 setback at FBS Arizona. NDSU went 7-1 in Missouri Valley play.
 
• The Bison are in the FCS quarterfinals for the 13th straight season. Running backs Kobe Johnson and TaMerik Williams combined for 307 rushing yards and three touchdowns in North Dakota State’s 49-26 second-round win over Montana.
 
• NDSU had several finalist for national awards. Bison offensive lineman Cody Mauch finished eighth in the Payton Award voting, while fullback Hunter Luepke tied for 12th. On the defensive side, defensive lineman Spencer Waege finished 13th in the Buck Buchanan Award voting.
 
• Furman fell at No. 7 national seed UIW in the second round of the playoffs, 41-38. The Paladins stormed back from a 31-17 third-quarter deficit to lead 38-34 with 6:55 left in the game but the Cardinals rallied for the win.
 
• The Southern Conference had three finalists each for the Walter Payton Award and the Buck Buchanan Award.
 
• In the Payton Award voting, Samford quarterback Michael Hiers finished fourth, Mercer wide receiver Devron Harper tied for 14th and Chattanooga running back Ailym Ford tied for 27th.
 
• In the Buchanan Award voting, Chattanooga defensive lineman Jay Person tied for eighth, ETSU defensive back Alijah Huzzie finished 12th and VMI linebacker Stone Snyder tied for 27th.
 
• Western Carolina running back Desmond Reid was a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, finishing sixth in the voting for that award.
 
• Seventeen SoCon football student-athletes earned preseason All-America distinction this season. Chattanooga offensive lineman McClendon Curtis, UTC defensive lineman Devonnsha Maxwell and VMI linebacker Stone Snyder earned first-team nods from Athlon Sports, HERO Sports, Phil Steele and Stats Perform. VMI long snapper Robert Soderholm earned first-team honors from HERO Sports and Stats Perform and ETSU’s Jacob Saylors was a first-team all-purpose pick on the Stats Perform squad.
 
SoCon Points of Pride
• 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 49 total FCS playoffs appearances.
     • Six of the nine SoCon teams appeared in an FCS top-25 national poll in the 2020-21 season and five of nine did so in the fall 2021 and 2022 campaigns.
 
• 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-three former SoCon players and coaches have been enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
• The SoCon had 15 FCS All-America selections in fall 2021 season. Two of them were drafted into the NFL, with Chattanooga OL Cole Strange becoming the SoCon’s first first-rounder since 1974 when he was taken 29th overall by the New England Patriots. Samford WR Montrell Washington was selected in the fifth round by the Denver Broncos.
 
• 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 2022 campaign is the 101st season of SoCon football. Founded in 1921, the SoCon is the fifth-oldest Division I conference.
 
Recent news
Furman, Samford lead SoCon all-sports races (12/8)
Samford's Hatcher named Region 2 Coach of the Year (12/6)
SoCon names November athletes of the month (12/6)
Saturday's FCS playoffs roundup (12/3)
VMI names Danny Rocco head football coach (12/3)
Shawn Watson named Wofford football coach (12/1)