FCS CONFERENCE · 2026 SEASON

Southern

#15 overall#4 in FCSRR50 +10.4Upper strength +13.810 teamsTop 25 teams 0

The weekly grind · 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.

FCS10 teamsRace: FCS PlayoffLeader: Tennessee Tech

Southern · 2026 season

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 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 Tech6-18-1+16.7
2Mercer4-17-2+13.2
3East Tennessee State4-16-3+14.2
4Chattanooga5-26-3+13.5
5Wofford3-35-4+11.3
6Samford3-33-6+8.4
7Western Carolina2-34-5+10.7
8Furman1-42-7+9.2
9The Citadel0-52-7+7.4
10VMI0-50-9-0.1

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

Projected standings · Southern · 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
1Tennessee Tech5-3+6.35.231541709098✓✓
2East Tennessee State5-3+3.74.7192957829599✓
Challengers
3Chattanooga5-3+3.04.7182756819599✓
4Mercer5-3+2.74.6172553799499✓
5Wofford4-4+0.94.241742709098✓
The field
6Furman4-4−1.23.821132598396✓
7Western Carolina4-4+0.23.82113158829699
8Samford3-5−2.13.5172349779499
Rebuilding
9The Citadel3-5−3.03.3162044729199
10VMI2-6−10.52.0311326490

Conference power · FCS

Where we stand

# Conference Avg power Record Top team
1MVFC
+12.4
0-1South Dakota State
2Big Sky
+10.9
0-1Montana State
3UAC
+10.8
5-2Tarleton State
4SouthernYou are here
+10.4
—Tennessee Tech
5SWAC
+10.0
—Alabama A&M
6Southland
+9.8
1-0Stephen F. Austin
7OVC
+9.7
1-1Gardner-Webb
8Ivy
+9.6
—Harvard
9MEAC
+9.4
1-1South Carolina State
10Coastal Athletic
+9.2
2-2UAlbany
11Patriot
+8.8
0-2Lehigh
12NEC
+8.2
—Central Connecticut
13Pioneer
+8.2
2-1St. Thomas (MN)

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+10.4
Upper Strength+13.8
Median Power+10.6
Resume Pulse51.7
Avg ATS52.5%
Wins vs Market-0.18
Top-to-Middle Gap5.7
Combined Record43-47

`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
#96 Tennessee Tech 8-1 +16.7 72 4-5 +0.46 4-0 over the last 4 (W6 W7 W8 W9)
#130 East Tennessee State 6-3 +14.2 47 5-3 +0.04 3-1 over the last 4 (W5 W6 W8 L9)
#138 Chattanooga 6-3 +13.5 75 5-4 +0.43 3-1 over the last 4 (L5 W6 W8 W9)
#150 Mercer 7-2 +13.2 73 4-5 +0.34 4-0 over the last 4 (W5 W6 W7 W9)
#178 Wofford 5-4 +11.3 59 4-5 +0.05 3-1 over the last 4 (W5 W6 W7 L9)
#184 Western Carolina 4-5 +10.7 38 4-5 -0.41 2-2 over the last 4 (W5 L6 L8 W9)
#203 Furman 2-7 +9.2 44 5-3 -2.16 0-4 over the last 4 (L5 L6 L8 L9)
#214 Samford 3-6 +8.4 56 7-2 +0.51 2-2 over the last 4 (L6 L7 W8 W9)
#226 The Citadel 2-7 +7.4 37 5-4 +0.03 0-4 over the last 4 (L6 L7 L8 L9)
#289 VMI 0-9 −0.1 17 3-6 -1.08 0-4 over the last 4 (L5 L7 L8 L9)