Aug. 27 (Saturday)	Series	TV/Digital/Live Stats	Time
Morehead State at #23/23 Mercer	First meeting	ESPN+/Stats	7 p.m.

Notes
• The Southern Conference football season opens Saturday with Mercer hosting Morehead State for a Week Zero game. The remaining eight SoCon teams open their seasons next week.

• The 2022 campaign is the 101st season of SoCon football. Founded in 1921, the SoCon is the fifth-oldest Division I conference.

• The Bears enter the season ranked No. 23 in both the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 and the Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25.

• Mercer is one of three ranked SoCon squads this preseason. Defending SoCon champion ETSU is No. 11 in both the AFCA and Stats Perform polls, while preseason SoCon favorite Chattanooga is No. 13 in the AFCA poll and No. 12 in the Stats Perform poll. Furman received votes in both polls.

• Mercer was picked third in the preseason coaches poll and tied for second in the preseason media poll after going 7-3 overall and 6-2 in the SoCon last season, finishing a game back ETSU. The Bears return eight starters on offensive, seven on defense and three on special teams and have seen punt returner Devron Harper and defensive back Lance Wise earn preseason All-America honors.

• The Bears fell just shy of their first SoCon title last season. Mercer and ETSU met on the final day of the regular season with identical 6-1 league records and the SoCon title on the line. The Bears held a late fourth-quarter lead but saw the Bucs rally for the win and the conference crown. The second-place finish and the 6-2 league mark were both Mercer’s best since joining the SoCon in 2014.

• Morehead State was picked fifth in the preseason Pioneer Football League poll. The Eagles went 7-4 overall and 6-2 in the PFL last season.

• Three SoCon players are on the preseason watch list for the Walter Payton Award and two are on the watch list for the Buck Buchanan Award. ETSU running back Jacob Saylors, Furman tight end Ryan Miller and Chattanooga running back Ailym Ford are on the initial watch list for the FCS offensive player of the year award and Chattanooga defensive lineman Devonnsha Maxwell and VMI linebacker Stone Snyder are in the running for the defensive player of the year award. Snyder has been a finalist for the Buchanan Award in each of the last two seasons, while Maxwell was a finalist last season.

• Seventeen SoCon football student-athletes have earned preseason All-America distinction heading into this season. Chattanooga offensive lineman McClendon Curtis, UTC’s Maxwell and VMI’s Snyder have earned first-team nods from Athlon Sports, HERO Sports, Phil Steele and Stats Perform. VMI long snapper earned first-team honors from HERO Sports and Stats Perform and ETSU’s Saylors was a first-team all-purpose pick on the Stats Perform squad.

• Fifteen SoCon student-athletes earned postseason All-America honors last season. ETSU running back Quay Holmes was a consensus first-team pick and finished third in the Walter Payton Award voting. Chattanooga offensive lineman Cole Strange and Samford wide receiver/kick returner Montrell Washington both earned first-team honors from at least three organizations and were taken in the NFL Draft, with Strange becoming the SoCon’s first first-rounder since 1974.

SoCon Points of Pride
• Since it began competing in FCS, the SoCon has amassed the second-most national championships with eight.

• 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 47 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 campaign.

• 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.

• 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 2022.

• Thirteen former SoCon players were on active NFL rosters last season and seven more were on practice squads. Former Georgia Southern kicker Younghoe Koo, who played in the SoCon as a freshman, was a Pro Bowler for the second straight season.

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

Recent news
Three on Reese's Senior Bowl Watch List (8/24)
2022 Southern Conference football preview (8/22)
Three ranked in AFCA Preseason Top 25 Poll (8/15)
HERO Sports names Preseason All-American Teams (8/11)
Three ranked in Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 (8/8)
Maxwell, Snyder on Buck Buchanan Award watch list (8/4)
Thirteen named to Phil Steele preseason All-America Teams (8/3)
SoCon trio named to Walter Payton Award preseason watch list (8/3)