(STATS) – Cinderella is allowed out more often than in the month of March. During college football season, FCS programs are adept at drawing national attention as they seek upsets of the larger FBS.
Many of the games are played during the first few weekends of the season. This year, there are 112 FCS vs. FBS matchups, and the FCS hopes to raise their nine combined wins from last season.
Southwestern Athletic Conference teams will be involved in 11 of the matchups:
The Matchups – Alabama A&M: Middle Tennessee (Sept. 3) and Auburn (Nov. 19); Alabama State: UTSA (Sept. 3); Alcorn State: Arkansas (Oct. 1 in Little Rock, Arkansas); Grambling State: Arizona (Sept. 10); Jackson State: UNLV (Sept. 1); Mississippi Valley State: Eastern Michigan (Sept. 2); Prairie View A&M: Texas A&M (Sept. 10) and Rice (Oct. 22); Southern: Louisiana-Monroe (Sept. 3) and Tulane (Sept. 10).
Glamour Game – Alcorn State at Arkansas. This matchup is being played at War Memorial Stadium in the state capital of Little Rock. Alcorn’s only win over an FBS program occurred in the first season of the Division I split – 24-16 over Central Michigan in 1978.
Upset Alert – Southern at Louisiana-Monroe. Having a veteran quarterback (Austin Howard) and the SWAC rushing champion (Lenard Tillery) will aid coach Dawson Odums’ squad as it tries to spoil the Louisiana-Monroe debut of former McNeese State coach Matt Viator.
Notable – Now about that upset alert: The last SWAC team to beat an FBS opponent was Grambling in 1985, 23-6 over Oregon State … Alabama A&M is being paid $515,000 for its visit to Auburn … New Jackson State coach Tony Hughes is making his debut against UNLV … Neither Mississippi Valley State nor its FBS opponent, Eastern Michigan, has won more than two games in any of the last three seasons … Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Texas Southern aren’t playing FBS opponents this year.
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