Upcoming schedule (link):
Sept. 14 (Saturday) Series TV/Digital Time
Furman at Virginia Tech Virginia Tech 6, Furman 0 ACC Network/ACCNE 12 p.m.
Chattanooga at Tennessee Tennessee leads 36-2-2 SEC Network/SEC+ 12 p.m.
The Citadel at Georgia Tech Georgia Tech leads 10-0 Fox Sports Southeast 12:30 p.m.
North Greenville at Western Carolina First meeting ESPN+ 3:30 p.m.
*Samford at Wofford Samford leads 11-5 Nexstar/ESPN3 6 p.m.
Austin Peay at Mercer Mercer leads 3-0 ESPN+ 7 p.m.
*VMI at ETSU ETSU leads 15-9 ESPN+ 7:30 p.m.
Nexstar affiliates for this week’s Ingles SoCon Game of the Week
WYCW (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville)
WCBD (Charleston)
WMUB (Macon)
WWCW (Roanoke)
Notes:
- All nine Southern Conference teams will be in action on the same day for the first time this season with Saturday’s full slate. Two league contests highlight the schedule, with Wofford hosting Samford and ETSU welcoming VMI.
- Three SoCon squads visit Power 5 opponents this week, with Furman at Virginia Tech, Chattanooga at Tennessee and The Citadel at Georgia Tech.
- Mercer continued its impressive offensive play early this season with a 45-7 win at Presbyterian on Sept. 7. Quarterback Robert Riddle threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns, while wide receiver Tucker Cannon had a school-record 144 yards receiving and a TD. Cannon’s big day came on just seven catches, as he averaged 20.6 yards per catch.
- VMI and ETSU rolled in their home openers over non-Division I opponents. The Keydets rolled up 571 yards of total offense in a 63-21 win over Mars Hill, while the Bucs notched 491 yards of total offense in their 48-10 win over Shorter.
- Furman gave FBS Georgia State all it could handle in an eventual 48-42 loss, jumping out to a 20-3 lead early in the second half before succumbing to the squad that shocked Tennessee in week one of the season. Redshirt freshman quarterback Darren Grainger piled up 376 yards of total offense en route to earning SoCon Offensive Player of the Week and STATS FCS National Freshman of the Week honors.
- The Paladins dropped two spots to No. 13 in the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 this week but rose one position to No. 16 in the STATS poll. Wofford, which was idle last week, fell two spots in both polls, to No. 22 and No. 21, respectively.
- Mercer and The Citadel received votes in both polls, while ETSU and Chattanooga are receiving votes in the STATS poll only.
- The Citadel dropped a 35-28 decision at Elon, which moved back into the STATS poll at No. 25 after the win. The Bulldogs scored a pair of touchdowns within three minutes of each other to knot the score at 28 in the fourth quarter but saw the Phoenix reclaim the lead on a TD with 6:07 to play.
- Chattanooga fell 41-20 at No. 17/18 Jacksonville State on Saturday despite an impressive day from running back Ailym Ford, who became the first UTC true freshman to run for 100 yards in a game since Erroll Wynn in 2006. Ford finished with 127 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries (5.8 yards per carry) and earned honorable mention from STATS for its FCS National Freshman of the Week award.
- VMI, which had four interceptions Saturday against Mars Hill, shares the FCS lead with five this season. Mercer leads the FCS with an average of 36.00 yards per kickoff return.
- Samford quarterback Chris Oladokun leads all FCS players in passing efficiency (281.0), passing TDs (seven), passing yards per completion (21.27) and yards per pass attempt (16.26). Mercer QB Robert Riddle shares the FCS lead in passing TDs with Oladokun and Delaware’s Pat Kehoe.
- Eighteen former SoCon players were on opening-week NFL rosters, according to research by the NCAA. Chattanooga leads the league with six, followed by Samford with four. Four SoCon teams boast one each.
Recent news:
Furman’s Grainger named STATS Freshman of the Week (9/9/19)
SoCon announces football players of the week presented by GEICO (9/9/19)
Saturday’s football roundup (9/7/19)
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Phil Perry
Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations
Southern Conference
O: 864-591-5100, ext. 201
C: 864-525-5174