Southland Conference and Ohio Valley Conference announce football scheduling alliance matchups for 2022

FRISCO, Texas and BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Southland Conference and Ohio Valley Conference and have announced the dates and matchups for its football scheduling alliance for the 2022 season.

In October the two NCAA Division I FCS leagues announced the framework for the collaboration which provides quality Division I non-conference matchups for teams in each league in 2022 and 2023.

The matchups for the 2022 season are:
September 10 – Texas A&M-Commerce at Tennessee Tech
September 17 – Nicholls at Southeast Missouri
October 1 – Murray State at Southeastern Louisiana
October 8 – Northwestern State at Eastern Illinois
October 22 – Southeast Missouri at Northwestern State
October 29 – UT Martin at Houston Baptist
November 5 – Eastern Illinois at McNeese State
November 19 – Tennessee State at Texas A&M-Commerce

Alliance matchups for the 2023 season will be announced at a later date. Additionally, the leagues will work together to cross-promote the alliance during the season, allowing for increased visibility, exposure and branding for each Conference. Both the OVC and Southland have longstanding ESPN broadcast agreements.

“We are really happy to announce more details regarding the previously released Southland-OVC scheduling alliance,” said Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett. “We look forward to building some great FCS-specific competition that will build rivalries and assist in determining NCAA postseason opportunities for teams and student-athletes in both leagues.”

“With the changing landscape of Division I, partnerships are going to be more important than ever to build quality schedules,” said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. “This is the first step of things to come and we are looking forward to building this relationship with the Southland Conference.”

The two Conferences have combined for four FCS National Championships and more than 100 playoff wins since the subdivision was formed in 1978. Additionally, the Southland has served as the host conference for the successful NCAA Division I FCS Championship Game in its home base of Frisco, Texas, since 2011.

OVC football members include Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, Ill.), Murray State University (Murray, Ky.), Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau, Mo.), Tennessee State University (Nashville, Tenn.), Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville, Tenn.), and the University of Tennessee at Martin (Martin, Tenn.).

Southland football members include Houston Baptist University (Houston, Texas), McNeese State University (Lake Charles, La.), Nicholls State University (Thibodaux, La.), Northwestern State University (Natchitoches, La.), Southeastern Louisiana University (Hammond, La.), and Texas A&M University-Commerce (Commerce, Texas).

About the Southland Conference
Founded in Dallas in 1963 and now in its 59th competitive season, the Southland Conference celebrates the academic and competitive achievements of its member institutions and their student-athletes. The league, based in Frisco, Texas, includes eight members in Louisiana and Texas, and sponsors 18 NCAA Division I sports, with NCAA Championships automatic berths in 12 applicable team sports. The league has won numerous national championships, including the 2020 NCAA Division I FCS title, and wins regularly in other sports in NCAA postseason play, including the 2021 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The Conference’s student-athletes perform exceptionally well in the classroom, as graduation rates and NCAA Academic Performance metrics are at all-time highs. Further, all current Southland athletic programs qualify for the new NCAA Academic Performance Fund. The league also features a newly-expanded agreement with ESPN Networks, broadcasting hundreds of competitions each year, and is represented in the national corporate sales marketplace by Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment.

About the Ohio Valley Conference
The Ohio Valley Conference was founded in 1948 and is in its seventh decade of competition, making it the eighth-oldest Division I athletic conference. Over its 73 years, OVC teams have garnered national championships in football along with national team or individual titles in the sports of rifle, cross country, track and golf. Over the past seven years the league has placed multiple teams in NCAA Championship fields in the sports baseball, men’s basketball, football and rifle. In the 1950s the OVC became a pioneer when Morehead State became one of the first non-traditionally Black mid-southern institutions to accept an African American student. Soon after the passing of Title IX legislation, the OVC began formulating plans for women’s athletics which began in 1977. The OVC has long been a national leader in sportsmanship and in 1995 implemented a first-of-its-kind Sportsmanship Statement, a policy that promotes principals of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent. The OVC has a multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN and well as a sponsorship agreement with LEARFIELD.