FCS CONFERENCE · 2026 SEASON

SWAC

#16 overall#5 in FCSRR50 +10.0Upper strength +12.912 teamsTop 25 teams 0

The weekly grind · 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: Alabama A&M

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 A&M4-17-2+15.0
2Jackson State3-26-2+13.5
3Arkansas-Pine Bluff3-25-3+12.3
4Alcorn State3-25-4+11.8
5Bethune-Cookman3-25-4+8.8
6Prairie View A&M3-24-5+11.5
7Alabama State3-34-4+12.5
8Grambling2-34-4+8.9
9Texas Southern2-33-5+7.3
10Mississippi Valley State2-33-6+1.2
11Southern2-44-5+10.4
12Florida A&M1-42-7+6.5

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
1Alabama A&M5-3+5.05.131540698997✓✓
2Jackson State5-3+3.54.7192957829599✓
Challengers
3Alabama State5-3+2.54.5172452789399✓
4Alcorn State5-3+1.84.5172451779399✓
5Arkansas-Pine Bluff4-4+2.34.4162147739198✓
6Prairie View A&M4-4+1.54.3151944719098✓
The field
7Southern4-4+0.43.931232608396✓
8Bethune-Cookman4-4−1.23.82103058829699
9Grambling4-4−1.03.6282551779499
10Texas Southern3-5−2.63.5172451789499
Rebuilding
11Florida A&M3-5−3.53.2151741709199
12Mississippi Valley State2-6−8.82.31517427294

Conference power · FCS

Where we stand

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

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+10.0
Upper Strength+12.9
Median Power+10.6
Resume Pulse40.8
Avg ATS46.4%
Wins vs Market-0.13
Top-to-Middle Gap4.1
Combined Record52-51

`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
#121 Alabama A&M 7-2 +15.0 80 5-2 +1.14 3-1 over the last 4 (L5 W6 W7 W9)
#139 Jackson State 6-2 +13.5 33 0-6 -0.98 2-2 over the last 4 (W5 L6 W7 L8)
#161 Alabama State 4-4 +12.5 40 4-3 -1.57 1-3 over the last 4 (L5 L6 W7 L9)
#166 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 5-3 +12.3 75 5-1 +0.78 3-1 over the last 4 (W5 L7 W8 W9)
#172 Alcorn State 5-4 +11.8 41 3-4 -0.19 2-2 over the last 4 (W4 L5 L7 W9)
#175 Prairie View A&M 4-5 +11.5 22 3-6 -0.95 2-2 over the last 4 (L5 L6 W7 W8)
#188 Southern 4-5 +10.4 50 3-4 +0.17 2-2 over the last 4 (L5 W6 L8 W9)
#205 Grambling 4-4 +8.9 39 2-4 -0.25 2-2 over the last 4 (W5 W6 L7 L9)
#206 Bethune-Cookman 5-4 +8.8 33 5-3 +0.73 2-2 over the last 4 (L6 W7 W8 L9)
#229 Texas Southern 3-5 +7.3 28 4-4 +0.25 2-2 over the last 4 (L5 L6 W8 W9)
#243 Florida A&M 2-7 +6.5 33 3-5 -1.84 1-3 over the last 4 (W6 L7 L8 L9)
#275 Mississippi Valley State 3-6 +1.2 16 3-4 +1.13 2-2 over the last 4 (W5 W6 L7 L9)

Active arcs

Developing2mo ago
Jackson State Tigers vs Tennessee State Tigers Box Score - August 29, 2026 - The

How will Jackson State perform against Tennessee State across different platforms and outlets?

Jackson State
Developing4mo ago
Kendrick Perkins joins Jackson State as men's basketball general manager

How will Kendrick Perkins's role impact Jackson State's men's basketball program?

Jackson State
All arcs →