FCS CONFERENCE · 2025 SEASON

SWAC

#16 overall#5 in FCSRR50 +9.1Upper strength +12.112 teamsTop 25 teams 0

THE LONG WAIT · 2025

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.

After Deion's departure, which program fills the SWAC's national-media spotlight, and can Jackson State sustain the recruiting standards he set?

FCS12 teamsRace: Celebration Bowl

SWAC · 2026 Season Preview

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 · 2025

Standings

#	Team	Conf	Overall	Pwr
1	Alabama State	8–1	10–2	+15.0
2	Prairie View A&M	8–1	10–4	+14.4
3	Jackson State	7–2	9–3	+13.9
4	Texas Southern	5–3	6–5	+8.8
5	Bethune-Cookman	5–3	6–6	+8.9
6	Grambling	4–4	7–5	+9.1
7	Florida A&M	4–4	5–7	+7.1
8	Alcorn State	4–5	5–7	+10.4
9	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	2–6	3–8	+6.0
10	Alabama A&M	2–7	4–8	+6.1
11	Southern	2–8	2–10	+5.8
12	Mississippi Valley State	1–8	2–10	+4.4

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

Projected Standings · SWAC · 2025

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	≥9	≥8	≥7	≥6	≥5	≥4	≥3	≥2	≥1
Favorites
1	Alabama State	6–3	+5.8	5.7	1	9	29	56	80	93	99	✓	✓
2	Prairie View A&M	6–3	+5.3	5.6	1	8	26	53	78	92	98	✓	✓
Challengers
3	Jackson State	5–4	+4.7	5.3	1	6	22	47	72	89	97	✓	✓
4	Alcorn State	5–4	+1.3	5.1	1	4	17	39	66	86	96	99	✓
5	Bethune-Cookman	4–4	-0.3	4.1			3	15	38	67	88	97	✓
6	Grambling	4–4	-0.0	4.0			3	14	35	63	86	97	✓
The Field
7	Texas Southern	4–4	-0.3	4.0			3	14	36	64	86	97	✓
8	Alabama A&M	4–5	-3.1	3.8		1	3	12	31	58	81	95	99
9	Florida A&M	4–4	-2.1	3.7			2	10	28	55	80	94	99
10	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	3–5	-3.1	3.2			1	4	17	40	69	90	99
Rebuilding
11	Southern	4–5	-3.3	3.7			3	11	29	55	80	94	99
12	Mississippi Valley State	3–6	-4.8	3.4			2	7	22	47	73	92	99

Conference Power · FCS

Where We Stand

#	Conference	Avg Power	vs Focal	Top Team
1	MVFC	+10.2	—	North Dakota State
2	Big Sky	+9.6	—	Montana State
3	MEAC	+9.4	0–5	South Carolina State
4	UAC	+9.3	0–2	Tarleton State
5	SWACYou are here	+9.1	—	Alabama State
6	Southland	+9.1	2–4	Stephen F. Austin
7	CAA	+8.9	1–0	Villanova
8	Patriot	+8.7	—	Lehigh
9	Big South-OVC	+8.6	1–0	Tennessee Tech
10	Pioneer	+8.5	—	Presbyterian
11	Southern	+8.4	—	Mercer
12	NEC	+8.2	—	Central Connecticut
13	Ivy	+7.7	—	Yale

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.

SWAC is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.

Conference Snapshot

RR50+9.1

Upper Strength+12.1

Median Power+8.9

Resume Pulse51.0

Avg ATS47.8%

Wins vs Market-0.16

Top-to-Middle Gap6.1

Combined Record69-75

League Drivers

Power leader Alabama State #56 overall | +15.0 pts vs avg Resume leader Alabama State #56 overall | 95 / 100 resume ATS leader Alabama State 90.0% cover rate Beat expectation Prairie View A&M +1.70 wins vs market

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
#56	Alabama State	10-2	+15.0	95	9-1	+1.10	4-0 over the last 4 (W11 W12 W13 W14)
#62	Prairie View A&M	10-4	+14.4	87	8-3	+1.70	3-1 over the last 4 (W12 W13 W15 L16)
#72	Jackson State	9-3	+13.9	90	5-5	+0.79	3-1 over the last 4 (W11 W12 W13 L15)
#154	Alcorn State	5-7	+10.4	58	6-4	-1.52	3-1 over the last 4 (W10 W11 W12 L13)
#190	Grambling	7-5	+9.1	57	4-6	+0.78	2-2 over the last 4 (W10 W11 L12 L14)
#197	Bethune-Cookman	6-6	+8.9	51	7-4	+1.04	2-2 over the last 4 (W10 L11 L12 W13)
#198	Texas Southern	6-5	+8.8	58	4-6	+0.26	2-2 over the last 4 (L10 L11 W12 W13)
#226	Florida A&M	5-7	+7.1	34	3-8	-1.26	2-2 over the last 4 (W11 W12 L13 L14)
#239	Alabama A&M	4-8	+6.1	31	4-7	-1.64	0-4 over the last 4 (L10 L11 L12 L13)
#241	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	3-8	+6.0	21	4-6	-0.51	1-3 over the last 4 (W10 L11 L12 L13)
#245	Southern	2-10	+5.8	14	1-11	-2.70	1-3 over the last 4 (L10 L11 L12 W14)
#258	Mississippi Valley State	2-10	+4.4	17	5-6	-0.00	1-3 over the last 4 (L11 L12 L13 W14)