FCS CONFERENCE · 2026 SEASON

Southern

#17 overall#6 in FCSRR50 -3.0Upper strength -0.810 teamsTop 25 teams 0

HOPE-DOPING · 2026

Oldest in the Country

The Southern Conference is the oldest surviving college football conference in the country (founded 1921) and the birthplace of programs like Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Clemson — all of whom eventually left for what became the SEC and ACC. What remained built its own identity around Samford, Mercer, Furman, Wofford, and The Citadel, with a reputation for academically serious programs that also compete for FCS playoff bids. Chattanooga's 2023 run reached the quarterfinals. The conference's history is longer than the Power Five's.

Samford and Furman have both made deep FCS runs in recent seasons. The Southern has multiple programs capable of earning at-large bids. Which one goes furthest in the 2026 bracket, and does the conference finally land a semifinalist for the first time since Chattanooga's 2017 run?

FCS10 teamsRace: FCS Playoff

Southern · Where They Stand · 2026

Power Map

FCS power landscape heading into 2026. Bracket implications begin Week 10.

Favorites
Tennessee Tech+1.3—East Tennessee State+0.6—
Challengers
Mercer-2.1—Chattanooga-3.2—Western Carolina-3.2—
The Field
Wofford-3.3—Furman-3.5—The Citadel-3.6—
Rebuilding
Samford-4.8—VMI-8.4—

Southern · 2026 Season Preview

Three Things to Watch

The StandardSamford's Consistent Playoff Presence

Samford has made the FCS bracket four times in the last six seasons from a small Baptist university in Homewood, Alabama — in the shadow of Alabama and Auburn, competing for a sliver of the recruiting market that FCS programs can reach. Their offensive system is one of the most efficient in the Southern Conference, and their quarterback development pipeline has produced NFL draft picks at a rate that surprises most casual observers of FCS football.

The Historic ProgramFurman's Tradition and What It Still Means

Furman won the FCS national championship in 1988 and has been a consistent playoff program since. Their Greenville, South Carolina campus produces the kind of student- athlete that defines the Southern Conference — academically serious, football-committed, developed through coaching rather than recruiting. They earned at-large bids in back- to-back seasons and are the Southern's most complete program from a historical prestige standpoint.

The Identity

The Oldest Conference and Its Living Heritage

Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Clemson all played in the Southern Conference before leaving for the SEC and ACC. The programs that remained built something different — a conference of academically selective schools with regional identities that the Power Four's expansion erased. Furman, Wofford, The Citadel, and Samford all have programs that could recruit to Power Four schools but choose not to. That choice is the Southern Conference's defining characteristic.

Conference Standings · Southern · 2026

Standings

# Team Conf Overall Pwr Last 5
1Tennessee Tech0–00–0+1.3—
2East Tennessee State0–00–0+0.6—
3Mercer0–00–0-2.1—
4Chattanooga0–00–0-3.2—
5Western Carolina0–00–0-3.2—
6Wofford0–00–0-3.3—
7Furman0–00–0-3.5—
8The Citadel0–00–0-3.6—
9Samford0–00–0-4.8—
10VMI0–00–0-8.4—

Conference record determines standing. Power = neutral-field pts vs. all-level average. Last 5 = most recent game results.

Conference Power · FCS

Where We Stand

# Conference Avg Power vs Focal Top Team
1MVFC
-1.7
—South Dakota State
2UAC
-2.2
—Tarleton State
3Big Sky
-2.2
—Montana State
4SWAC
-2.5
—Prairie View A&M
5Southland
-2.7
—Stephen F. Austin
6SouthernYou are here
-3.0
—Tennessee Tech
7MEAC
-3.0
—South Carolina State
8Patriot
-3.3
—Villanova
9CAA
-3.4
—Rhode Island
10Pioneer
-3.4
—San Diego
11Big South-OVC
-3.6
—UT Martin
12NEC
-3.6
—Long Island University

Round-robin power = strength of schedule-adjusted conference average, points vs. all-level average team. Record = Southern's record vs. that conference across all games this season.

The Southern Conference is the oldest surviving college football conference in the country (founded 1921) and the birthplace of programs like Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Clemson — all of whom eventually left for what became the SEC and ACC. What remained built its own identity around Samford, Mercer, Furman, Wofford, and The Citadel, with a reputation for academically serious programs that also compete for FCS playoff bids. Chattanooga's 2023 run reached the quarterfinals. The conference's history is longer than the Power Five's.

Conference Snapshot

RR50-3.0
Upper Strength-0.8
Median Power-3.2
Resume Pulse34.3
Avg ATS--
Wins vs Market+0.00
Top-to-Middle Gap4.5
Combined Record0-0

`RR50`, `Upper Strength`, and `Median Power` are shown on the same public power scale as the rest of the site: points on a neutral field versus the average all-level NCAA team. Very small affiliations are gently regressed toward their subdivision baseline so a one-team outlier does not hijack the entire conference board.

Southern Team Board

The league stack, sorted by predictive strength. Power is shown as neutral-field points versus the all-level average team, while resume is shown on a 0-100 season score.

Rank Team Record Power Resume ATS Wins vs Market Recent Form
#121 Tennessee Tech 0-0 +1.3 58 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#130 East Tennessee State 0-0 +0.6 55 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#171 Mercer 0-0 -2.1 41 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#195 Chattanooga 0-0 -3.2 33 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#197 Western Carolina 0-0 -3.2 32 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#198 Wofford 0-0 -3.3 32 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#205 Furman 0-0 -3.5 29 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#206 The Citadel 0-0 -3.6 29 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#230 Samford 0-0 -4.8 21 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.
#257 VMI 0-0 -8.4 11 -- +0.00 Upcoming schedule still settling.