FCS CONFERENCE · 2026 SEASON

SWAC

#17 overall#6 in FCSRR50 +9.9Upper strength +12.212 teamsTop 25 teams 0

VERDICT BEGINS · 2026

The Celebration

The SWAC and MEAC champions meet every December in Atlanta for the Celebration Bowl — an HBCU national championship game that routinely draws 40,000+ fans and national broadcast attention that the bracket path alone could not generate. The MEAC leads the all-time series 7–3. Deion Sanders rebuilt Jackson State into a recruiting magnet before leaving for Colorado, but the talent pipeline he opened did not close with him.

FCS12 teamsRace: Celebration BowlLeader: Jackson State

SWAC · 2026 Season

Three Things to Watch

The LegacyJackson State After Prime Time

Deion Sanders built Jackson State from obscurity into a national recruiting story — five-star players choosing an HBCU over Power Four offers, NFL Draft picks coming from Sonic Boom of the South, a program on ESPN every week. He left for Colorado after 2022. What remained was a roster, a recruiting infrastructure, and a fanbase that now expects more than the SWAC used to expect. That expectation is the program's biggest asset and its most complicated inheritance.

The RivalGrambling and Southern: The Southwest Classic

Grambling State and Southern University play the Bayou Classic every November in the Superdome — an HBCU game that routinely sells out 70,000 seats. Both programs have NFL Hall of Famers in their lineage, national championship banners from the SWAC's dominant eras, and band traditions that rival any program in college football. The Bayou Classic predates ESPN. It will outlast it too.

The Stage

The Celebration Bowl: Atlanta in December

The SWAC champion plays the MEAC champion in Atlanta every December — 40,000+ fans, national television, the de facto HBCU national championship game. The MEAC leads the all-time series, but the SWAC's recruiting depth gives them the advantage when both conferences are at full strength. Every SWAC season is ultimately about earning the right to be in that December game and winning it.

Conference Standings · SWAC · 2026

Standings

# Team Conf Overall Pwr Last 5
1Alabama State1–02–1+12.9
2Alcorn State1–02–2+9.9
3Prairie View A&M1–01–3+13.7
4Jackson State0–03–0+13.8
5Alabama A&M0–03–1+10.2
6Bethune-Cookman0–02–1+10.8
7Grambling0–02–1+9.4
8Florida A&M0–01–3+8.7
9Mississippi Valley State0–01–3+4.2
10Southern0–12–2+9.3
11Arkansas-Pine Bluff0–12–2+7.8
12Texas Southern0–11–2+8.8

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

Projected Standings · SWAC · 2026

Win Projection

Odds of winning at least N conference games from current power ratings — full slate played out, not locked to results. AVG = expected wins; W–L = most-likely record.

# Team W–L PWR AVG ≥8≥7≥6≥5≥4≥3≥2≥1
Favorites
1Prairie View A&M5–3+3.74.82113261849699✓
2Jackson State5–3+3.94.82103159839599✓
Challengers
3Alabama State5–3+3.04.7192856809499✓
4Bethune-Cookman4–4+0.84.2151843708998✓
5Alcorn State4–4-0.04.141639668797✓
6Alabama A&M4–4+0.24.031436638697✓
The Field
7Texas Southern4–4-1.14.031335638597✓
8Florida A&M4–4-1.23.821130588396✓
9Grambling4–4-0.63.82113158829599
10Southern4–4-0.73.6292653799499
Rebuilding
11Arkansas-Pine Bluff3–5-2.23.4172146739299
12Mississippi Valley State3–5-5.82.821028568397

Conference Power · FCS

Where We Stand

# Conference Avg Power vs Focal Top Team
1MVFC
+11.9
—Illinois State
2Big Sky
+10.7
—Montana State
3UAC
+10.7
0–2Tarleton State
4Southland
+10.6
0–2Stephen F. Austin
5MEAC
+10.1
1–2South Carolina State
6SWACYou are here
+9.9
—Jackson State
7OVC
+9.8
2–1Gardner-Webb
8Southern
+9.8
—Tennessee Tech
9Coastal Athletic
+9.7
—Rhode Island
10Patriot
+9.4
—Lehigh
11Pioneer
+8.8
1–0Butler
12NEC
+8.6
—Central Connecticut
13Ivy
+8.4
—Harvard

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

The SWAC and MEAC champions meet every December in Atlanta for the Celebration Bowl — an HBCU national championship game that routinely draws 40,000+ fans and national broadcast attention that the bracket path alone could not generate. The MEAC leads the all-time series 7–3. Deion Sanders rebuilt Jackson State into a recruiting magnet before leaving for Colorado, but the talent pipeline he opened did not close with him.

Conference Snapshot

RR50+9.9
Upper Strength+12.2
Median Power+9.7
Resume Pulse42.0
Avg ATS34.7%
Wins vs Market+0.00
Top-to-Middle Gap4.2
Combined Record22-21

`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.

SWAC 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
#128 Jackson State 3-0 +13.8 68 0-1 +0.16 3-0 over the last 3 (W1 W1 W3)
#129 Prairie View A&M 1-3 +13.7 32 2-2 +0.05 1-3 over the last 4 (L1 W1 L2 L3)
#141 Alabama State 2-1 +12.9 36 2-0 +0.91 2-1 over the last 3 (W1 W1 L2)
#175 Bethune-Cookman 2-1 +10.8 58 1-1 +0.12 1-1 over the last 2 (L1 W2)
#189 Alabama A&M 3-1 +10.2 44 1-1 +0.06 3-1 over the last 4 (L1 W1 W2 W3)
#198 Alcorn State 2-2 +9.9 31 0-3 -0.01 2-2 over the last 4 (W1 L1 W2 L3)
#209 Grambling 2-1 +9.4 48 0-1 -0.00 2-1 over the last 3 (W1 W1 L2)
#213 Southern 2-2 +9.3 69 0-2 -0.94 1-2 over the last 3 (L1 W1 L2)
#219 Texas Southern 1-2 +8.8 22 1-2 +0.59 1-2 over the last 3 (W1 L1 L2)
#222 Florida A&M 1-3 +8.7 39 1-2 -0.65 1-3 over the last 4 (W1 L1 L2 L3)
#237 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 2-2 +7.8 52 2-0 -0.25 2-2 over the last 4 (W1 L1 L2 W3)
#265 Mississippi Valley State 1-3 +4.2 5 0-2 -0.01 1-3 over the last 4 (L1 L1 W2 L3)

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