Southern at Texas Southern
Texas Southern (1‑5) hosts Southern (3‑4). The market has Texas Southern favored by 1.5.
How they got here
Last three games
Southern · 3-4
Rated 201st in our preseason ratings, 224th now.
1-2 in its last three, capped by a 14-point win over Prairie View A&M as a 15.5-point underdog.
L 17-35 @ Jackson State No. 122 of 668 teams
lost by 18 as a 20.5-point underdog
W 34-15 vs Kentucky State No. 287 of 668 teams
Last three games
Texas Southern · 1-5
Rated 209th in our preseason ratings, 252nd now.
Three straight losses.
L 34-38 vs Mississippi Valley State No. 260 of 668 teams
lost by 4 as a 14-point favorite
L 10-66 @ Florida Atlantic No. 103 of 668 teams
lost by 56 as a 47.5-point underdog
L 14-52 @ Prairie View A&M No. 109 of 668 teams
lost by 38 as a 10.5-point underdog
W 42-30 vs North Carolina Central No. 167 of 668 teams
won by 12 as a 10.5-point underdog
What’s at stake
Southern
- Southern is 2 games back in SWAC with 4 left to make it up.
- Southern is coming off a 14-point win.
Texas Southern
- Texas Southern is 3 games back in SWAC with 4 left to make it up.
- Texas Southern is the Texas HBCU with a 1952 black college national championship and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan as its most famous product — a program rebuilding under Cris Dishman in year two.
The series
Southern leads the series 12-6-1
19 meetings since 1977 · Texas Southern won the last meeting
- 2025Texas Southern 35-30
- 2024Southern 22-19
- 2023Southern 23-17
- 2022 · neutral siteTexas Southern 24-0
- 2021Texas Southern 35-31
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Southern
The chip · vs the national mediaSouthern's Human Jukebox is celebrated across America as one of the greatest marching bands in sports history, yet the football program is rarely mentioned in national college football discourse. The band overshadows the team. Four straight Bayou Classic wins show the program can compete at the highest SWAC level.
What this game touches
The post-championship drought. Southern has not won a SWAC title since 1997, despite 19 conference championships in the program's history. The Human Jukebox marching band remains nationally iconic, but the football program has spent decades as a background story to the band's celebrity.
Texas Southern
The chip · vs the blue bloodsFans here believe texas Southern won a national championship in 1952 and has been competitive ever since but never reached that peak again. The chip is that the program knows the standard exists and is determined to prove the 2025 competitive season is the foundation for a championship run.
What this game touches
The long championship drought since 1952. Texas Southern won a black college national championship in 1952 (73 years ago), but has not returned to that peak. The program remains competitive in the SWAC but hasn't demonstrated championship-level consistency. Cris Dishman is in year two (11-11 overall record) tasked with building toward that standard.
The betting line, and the fans
Our model and the betting line don’t fully agree on Texas Southern’s chances here.
Texas Southern favored by 1.5 · Total 56.5
Texas Southern by 1.5: where a favorite like this usually runs
Half of games8 in 10 games
Texas Southern’s chance through the game, if this goes like the 256 games since 2025 with a favorite of under 3.5 points.
Home field
Home-field advantage: Bottom third of FBS.
0% at home, 0% on the road against FBS opponents (0-0 home, 0-13 away).
Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads +4.6 at home vs. away over 49 games — inside the ±10.7 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.
The visitors travel about 254 miles to get here.
Week by week
Texas Southern
- Wk 1Lat Prairie View A&M14-52
- Wk 2Lat UTEP10-51
- Wk 4Lat Alcorn State40-43
- Wk 5Lat Florida Atlantic10-66
- Wk 6Lvs Mississippi Valley State34-38
Southern
- Wk 2Lat Houston6-77
- Wk 3Wvs Louisiana Christian50-31
- Wk 4Lat Jackson State17-35
- Wk 5Lvs Arkansas-Pine Bluff10-41
- Wk 6Wat Prairie View A&M28-14
Power rating by week
Southern is rated 2.0 points ahead as of week 8. Our power rating by week; higher is better.
The market
The books’ cut: 5.3%, the margin built into the odds
Conference standings
Going into this game: place in the conference, then conference record.
- Texas Southern12th0-3
- Southern11th1-3