SOUTHERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL 2020-21 702 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303 • 864-591-5100 • Fax: 864-591-3448 Phil Perry, Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations (FB contact) facebook.com/SouthernConference • twitter.com/SoConSports • instagram.com/SouthernConference 2020-21 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL STANDINGS NOTES • The Southern Conference returns to action on Sat- CONFERENCE OVERALL urday when Western Carolina opens its fall slate at Teams W-L Pct H A ST W-L Pct H A ST FBS No. 22 Liberty. ETSU 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- • The Catamounts’ young roster includes 50 true Furman 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- or redshirt freshmen and just 10 seniors. Western Samford 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- Carolina returns 19 starters, including nine on off ense, VMI 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- seven on defense and three specialists. Western Carolina 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- • Entering this season, Western Carolina must replace Woff ord 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- graduated quarterback Tyrie Adams, who fi nished Chattanooga 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-1 .000 0-0 0-1 L1 his career fi fth in SoCon history with 11,525 yards of total off ense. Mercer 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-3 .000 0-1 0-2 L3 The Citadel 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 --- 0-4 .000 0-1 0-3 L4 • Two of Western Carolina’s three fall opponents have appeared in the national rankings this season. At 7-0, Liberty is up three spots in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 after topping Virginia Tech last time PCOMING CHEDULE (all times Eastern) out, while North Carolina is the fi rst team out of the U S poll but has reached as high as high as No. 5 this fall. Nov. 14 (Saturday) Series TV/Digital Time Western Carolina at Liberty Series tied 3-3 ESPN3 12 p.m. • Western Carolina and Liberty have met six times, with the series tied 3-3. The Flames have won the last Nov. 21 (Saturday) Series TV/Digital Time two meetings, in 2006 and 2008. Western Carolina at Eastern Kentucky Eastern Kentucky leads 3-2 ESPN+ 3 p.m. • Liberty, which has won nine straight dating back to Dec. 11 (Friday) Series TV/Digital Time last season, earned a dramatic 38-35 win at Virginia Western Carolina at North Carolina North Carolina leads 2-0 ACC Network 7 p.m. Tech on Saturday. The teams combined for 17 points in the last two minutes of the contest, with the Hokies Feb. 20 (Saturday) Series TV/Digital Time seeming to have won the game when they returned *Samford at ETSU Samford leads 6-1 ESPN+/3 TBA a blocked fi eld goal for a touchdown as time expired. *Western Carolina at Furman Furman leads 33-12-2 ESPN+/3 TBA The Flames got a second chance when it was ruled *Mercer at Woff ord Series tied 6-6 ESPN+/3 TBA that Virginia Tech had called a timeout just before the *VMI at Chattanooga Chattanooga leads 17-8-1 ESPN+/3 TBA kick, and Liberty converted a 51-yard kick with one second left for the win. • Western Carolina’s Nov. 21 road meeting with Ohio COACHING RECORDS Valley Conference member Eastern Kentucky is being billed as the inaugural Opportunity Bowl. The game Coach, School Career Record School (Yrs.) SoCon (Yrs.) is dedicated to the late Dr. Sheila Davidson Pressley, Brent Thompson, The Citadel 26-24 (5th) Same 19-13 (5th) a 1989 Western Carolina graduate and the former Randy Sanders, ETSU 11-13 (3rd) Same 7-9 (3rd) Dean of Health Sciences at EKU who also served as Clay Hendrix, Furman 22-14 (4th) Same 18-6 (4th) the Faculty Athletics Representative. Drew Cronic, Mercer 47-9 (5th) 0-3 (1st) 0-0 (1st) Chris Hatcher, Samford 153-83 (21st) 32-26 (6th) 35-27 (9th) • Two SoCon student-athletes have been named the Rusty Wright, Chattanooga 6-7 (2nd) Same 5-3 (2nd) Stats Perform FCS Co-Player of the Week so far this Scott Wachenheim, VMI 11-45 (6th) Same 6-33 (6th) season. Mercer sophomore safety Lance Wise had a Mark Speir, Western Carolina 32-60 (9th) Same 20-42 (9th) career-best 20 tackles against Abilene Christian on Josh Conklin, Woff ord 17-8 (3rd) Same 13-3 (3rd) Oct. 31 to earn the honor, while The Citadel’s Sean- Thomas Faulkner did so after recording 16 tackles at FBS Army West Point on Oct. 10. SOCON STATS NCAA STATS SCHEDULE NOTES • Mercer’s Isaac Dowling leads the FCS with 13.3 tackles per game, while The Citadel’s Willie Eubanks The Southern Conference Council of III is fourth with 10.8 and Wise is fi fth at 10.7. Chat- Presidents announced on Aug. 13 that tanooga’s Jay Person paces the FCS with 2.0 sacks per the league would postpone conference game and he and teammate Rashun Freeman are tied competition for all fall sports to the for second with 3.0 tackles for loss per game. spring due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, with • The Citadel’s Jaylan Adams is second in the FCS with schools able to participate in nonconfer- a kickoff return average of 20.4 yards and teammate ence play in the fall at their discretion. Dominick Poole is third in punt returns at 2.0 yards per return. The league’s spring schedule was an- nounced Oct. 21. Play begins on Feb. 20 • Chattanooga’s Ailym Ford is fi fth in the FCS with 92.0 and wraps up on April 17 before the FCS rushing yards per game. playoff s start on April 24. #SoConFB Weekly Release Nov. 9, 2020 Page 1 SOCON VS. OTHER CONFERENCES HOME FIELD RECORDS FBS opponents (0-5) Team W-L-T Pct. Years Stadium name The Citadel 234-152-3 .605 71st Johnson Hagood Stadium American Athletic (0-1) ETSU 12-6-0 .667 4th William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium Sept. 12 South Florida 27, The Citadel 6 Furman 173-60-1 .741 38th Paladin Stadium Mercer 26-17-0 .605 8th Five Star Stadium Atlantic Coast (0-1) Sept. 19 #1 Clemson 49, The Citadel 0 Samford 170-84-4 .667 51st Seibert Stadium Dec. 11 Western Carolina at North Carolina, 7 p.m. Chattanooga 65-59-0 .524 22nd Finley Stadium VMI 102-157-3 .395 58th Foster Stadium Independents (0-2) Western Carolina 129-106-2 .549 45th E.J. Whitmire Stadium Oct. 10 Army West Point 14, The Citadel 9 Woff ord 98-35-0 .737 23rd Gibbs Stadium Oct. 24 Army West Point 49, Mercer 3 Nov. 14 Western Carolina at Liberty, 12 p.m. Conference USA (0-1) SHUTOUT CHART Oct. 24 Western Kentucky 13, Chattanooga 10 Team Last shutout win Games ago Last shutout loss Games ago FCS opponents (0-3) The Citadel 69-0 – Davidson (2015) 63 49-0 – Clemson (2020) 3 ETSU 45-0 – Gardner-Webb (2018) 19 38-0 – Vanderbilt (2019) 1 Ohio Valley (0-2) Furman 10-0 – Elon (2004) 183 45-0 – Samford (2014) 63 Sept. 26 Eastern Kentucky 37, The Citadel 14 Mercer 52-0 – ETSU (2015) 54 56-0 – Alabama (2017) 27 Oct. 10 Jacksonville State 34, Mercer 28 Samford 43-0 – Clark Atlanta (2015) 49 52-0 – Auburn (2019) 1 Nov. 21 Western Carolina at Eastern Kentucky, 3 p.m. Chattanooga 34-0 – Presbyterian (2016) 47 45-0 – Tennessee (2019) 11 VMI 49-0 – St. Francis (Pa.) (2008) 134 23-0 – Robert Morris (2017) 31 Southland (0-1) Western Carolina 35-0 – Shorter (2008) 135 41-0 – NC State (2019) 11 Oct. 31 Abilene Christian 20, Mercer 17 Woff ord 17-0 – VMI (2016) 41 3-0 – Gardner-Webb (2013) 81 Home team underlined All times Eastern ALL-TIME RECORDS IN SOCON PLAY STATS PERFORM FCS TOP 25 SOCON PLAYERS IN THE NFL Team Years W-L-T Pct. Team (1st-place votes) PS The Citadel 81st 215-300-5 .418 North Dakota State (147) 1 James Madison 2 Sixteen former SoCon players are on NFL active rosters. ETSU 29th 79-133-0 .373 Furman 81st 277-215-11 .562 Northern Iowa 3 Mercer 6th 18-28-0 .391 Weber State 4 NFL team Player, SoCon team South Dakota State 5 Atlanta Falcons Younghoe Koo, Georgia Southern Samford 12th 52-42-0 .553 Montana State 6 Buff alo Bills Andre Roberts, The Citadel Chattanooga 43rd 151-158-2 .487 Montana 7 Chicago Bears Buster Skrine, Chattanooga VMI 85th 186-313-23 .378 Villanova 8 Cleveland Browns Kendall Lamm, Appalachian State Western Carolina 43rd 115-199-1 .367 Illinois State 9 Cleveland Browns Tae Davis, Chattanooga Woff ord 23rd 114-64-0 .640 Kennesaw State 10 Denver Broncos Sam Martin, Appalachian State Central Arkansas 11 Detroit Lions Nick Williams, Samford Sacramento State 12 Houston Texans Keion Crossen, Western Carolina Austin Peay 13 Kansas City Chiefs Daniel Kilgore, Appalachian State Nicholls 14 Miami Dolphins Matt Breida, Georgia Southern RECORDS VS. RANKED FCS FOES Furman 15 Minnesota Vikings Dakota Dozier, Furman Woff ord 16 New York Giants C.J. Board, Chattanooga SoCon teams’ records vs. ranked FCS opponents Albany 17 New York Giants James Bradberry, Samford since 2016 (including playoff s) Eastern Washington 18 San Francisco 49ers Jaquiski Tartt, Samford North Carolina A&T 19 San Francisco 49ers Jerick McKinnon, Ga.