Southland spring schedule out
The Southland Conference released its 2021 spring football schedule Tuesday, with seven participating members playing a revised six-game league regular season from Feb. 20-April 10.
Sam Houston State, Lamar, Incarnate Word, McNeese, Nicholls, Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State will be playing in the spring. Stephen F. Austin, which has scheduled nine nonconference games this fall, Central Arkansas, Abilene Christian and Houston Baptist have opted out. HBU is playing a shortened fourgame fall schedule before the 2021 fall football kickoff.
“We are very pleased to confirm our delayed 2020 Southland Conference football schedule into the 2021 spring semester,” conference commissioner Tom Burnett said. “While the spring playing opportunity will be different in many ways, we are looking forward to providing this competitive and championship opportunity for our participating football programs, their student-athletes and coaches, and all of the fans and followers of Southland football.
“Additionally, the prospect of competing for an FCS national championship with multiple teams in the postseason is an annual goal for the league.”
The six-game round-robin schedule has each school playing three home and away games over an eightweek period, with each team having multiple open dates for flexibility. The NCAA has approved a maximum of eight total games in a 13-week period that begins Jan. 23, making nonconference opportunities available.
On Aug. 13, the Southland postponed league competition in all its fall sports with the intent of scheduling a football season in the spring of 2021 due to concerns over COVID-19.
Spring schedules for other fall sports will be announced at a later date.
Longtime Sam Houston State athletic director Bobby Williams felt it was in the school’s best interest not to play football in the fall and to wait until the spring for several reasons.
“Safety is the obvious thing,” Williams said. “I wanted to try to avoid stops and starts as much as possible. It doesn’t mean that we won’t have to deal with that in the spring. Plus, I think the other key thing was the student-athlete experience. Our teams are used to playing for an opportunity to play college championships in postseason.”
The NCAA had earlier moved the FCS national championship from fall to spring. With the new schedule, the seven competing Southland teams will play for a league championship, with the winner receiving the conference’s automatic berth to the adjusted NCAA Division I FCS championship. The FCS playoffs, with a reduced bracket from 24 to 16 teams, will have 11 automatic qualifiers and five at-large schools. The first round starts April 24. The championship game at Toyota Stadium
in Frisco is May 15.
“Basically, with the NCAA playing the FCS championship and the soccer and volleyball championships in the spring and setting up the Southland Conference schedules for the spring, that was our main purpose with not playing in the fall. Because we want to play for championships,” Williams said.
In addition, the Bearkats’ 2020 fall schedule did not have any money-game guarantees. Sam Houston had two nonconference games for which it was going to have to pay out game guarantees, and both teams canceled, with Sam Houston choosing not to fill the schedule.
Williams said he understood the reasoning of several of the league schools preferring to play a traditional fall season over a move to the spring.
“There are schools that made that decision. I don’t fault them for it,” Williams said. “They have to do what’s best for them. We just felt this was the best thing for us to try to play for a championship. And hopefully, it works out.”
Central Arkansas and Nicholls shared the conference title last season at 7-2. Sam Houston finished in a tie for third at 6-3 and was 7-5 overall.
The fall 2021 football schedule is not expected to be affected by the Southland’s 2021 spring dates.
“I know everybody’s concerned about that turnaround time,” Williams said. “But we felt like we can manage that timingwise and not have to affect fall of 2021.”
Sam Houston opens at Incarnate Word on Feb. 20 and ends its regular season at home versus McNeese on April 10.
“We talked to our players about not playing in the fall. I think (everyone) in the program was disappointed,” said Sam Houston State coach K.C. Keeler, who in six years at the Huntsville school has guided the Bearkats to three of their five Final Fours since 2011. “But when they understood there was a chance to play for a championship in the spring, it got everyone excited. We want to add a national championship to this program’s résumé.”
The SWAC announced its spring 2021 football schedule in August. Its six-game league schedule will start Feb. 27 and conclude April 17.