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FCS CONFERENCE · 2025 SEASON

Southland

#17 overall#6 in FCSRR50 +9.1Upper strength +11.810 teamsTop 25 teams 0

THE LONG WAIT · 2025

McNeese Country

The Southland Conference lost several members to the newly formed United Athletic Conference in 2023, including Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas, and Eastern Kentucky. The remaining core — Lamar, McNeese State, Southeastern Louisiana, Nicholls, Houston Baptist, and Northwestern State — rebuilt as a smaller, regional Gulf Coast conference. McNeese State has been the standard: four Southland titles in six years, consistent FCS playoff appearances, and a fan culture built around a genuinely beloved program in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

McNeese has the recruiting base to maintain its Southland dominance even after the conference shrank. But Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls have both made playoff appearances. Does anyone from the Gulf Coast corridor knock off the Cowboys, or does Lake Charles keep producing the automatic bid?

FCS10 teamsRace: FCS Playoff

Southland · 2026 Season Preview

Three Things to Watch

The ProgramMcNeese State: Four Titles in Six Years

McNeese State has won four Southland Conference titles in six seasons and made the FCS bracket in each of them. Their program — based in Lake Charles, Louisiana, drawing from the same Cajun South recruiting pool as LSU's walk-on pipeline — has the most consistent winning culture in the Southland. Gary Goff's staff develops Gulf Coast athletes into FCS playoff performers year after year.

The ChallengerSoutheastern Louisiana's Recurring Threat

Southeastern Louisiana made the FCS bracket three times in five seasons and beat a seeded program in the second round in 2023. Their Hammond, Louisiana program draws from the same New Orleans and north shore pipeline that LSU uses for its walk-ons. When their offense is healthy in November, they are the most dangerous team in the Southland and the most likely program to knock McNeese off the automatic bid.

Wild CardNicholls and the Gulf South Pipeline

Nicholls State in Thibodaux, Louisiana has made the FCS bracket and demonstrated they can compete with mid-major bracket programs. Their recruiting base — deep Louisiana, the bayou corridor south of Baton Rouge — produces linemen and skill players that FCS programs across the country try to reach. If Nicholls can maintain their 2024-25 talent level, they are a legitimate automatic bid challenger in 2026.

Conference Standings · Southland · 2025

Standings

# Team Conf Overall Pwr Last 5
1Stephen F. Austin8–011–3+14.5
2SE Louisiana7–19–4+12.1
3UT Rio Grande Valley5–39–3+12.5
4Lamar5–38–5+9.8
5McNeese4–45–7+9.1
6Nicholls4–44–8+8.7
7Incarnate Word3–55–7+9.8
8East Texas A&M3–53–9+7.1
9Houston Christian1–72–10+5.2
10Northwestern State0–81–11+2.4

Conference record determines standing. Power = neutral-field pts vs. all-level average. Last 5 = most recent game results.

Projected Standings · Southland · 2025

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
1Stephen F. Austin5–3+5.35.231642708997✓✓
2UT Rio Grande Valley5–3+3.44.5172452789399✓
Challengers
3SE Louisiana5–3+3.04.7192957819599✓
4Incarnate Word4–4+0.74.141740688897✓
5Lamar4–4+0.74.041538658797✓
The Field
6McNeese4–4-0.04.031436648697✓
7Nicholls4–4-0.43.921132618496✓
8East Texas A&M4–4-2.03.6282552789499
Rebuilding
9Houston Christian3–5-3.93.2151741699099
10Northwestern State3–5-6.72.72927558297

Conference Power · FCS

Where We Stand

# Conference Avg Power vs Focal Top Team
1MVFC
+10.2
2–1North Dakota State
2Big Sky
+9.6
2–4Montana State
3MEAC
+9.4
0–1South Carolina State
4UAC
+9.3
3–5Tarleton State
5SWAC
+9.1
4–2Alabama State
6SouthlandYou are here
+9.1
—Stephen F. Austin
7CAA
+8.9
—Villanova
8Patriot
+8.7
—Lehigh
9Big South-OVC
+8.6
—Tennessee Tech
10Pioneer
+8.5
—Presbyterian
11Southern
+8.4
—Mercer
12NEC
+8.2
—Central Connecticut
13Ivy
+7.7
—Yale

Round-robin power = strength of schedule-adjusted conference average, points vs. all-level average team. Record = Southland's record vs. that conference across all games this season.

Southland is outperforming its raw power profile. The league body of work is stronger than the market would expect.

Conference Snapshot

RR50+9.1
Upper Strength+11.8
Median Power+9.3
Resume Pulse54.4
Avg ATS48.9%
Wins vs Market-0.25
Top-to-Middle Gap5.0
Combined Record57-67

`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.

Southland 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
#60 Stephen F. Austin 11-3 +14.5 93 6-4 +0.49 3-1 over the last 4 (W12 W13 W15 L16)
#93 UT Rio Grande Valley 9-3 +12.5 88 3-1 -0.14 3-1 over the last 4 (L10 W11 W12 W13)
#107 SE Louisiana 9-4 +12.1 87 5-7 -0.60 2-2 over the last 4 (L11 W12 W13 L14)
#173 Incarnate Word 5-7 +9.8 52 5-5 -1.92 3-1 over the last 4 (W10 W11 L12 W13)
#174 Lamar 8-5 +9.8 76 6-6 +1.61 1-3 over the last 4 (W11 L12 L13 L14)
#192 McNeese 5-7 +9.1 44 5-4 +0.71 3-1 over the last 4 (W10 W11 L12 W13)
#199 Nicholls 4-8 +8.7 35 6-5 -0.48 2-2 over the last 4 (W10 L11 W12 L13)
#225 East Texas A&M 3-9 +7.1 33 5-6 -0.44 1-3 over the last 4 (L10 L11 W12 L13)
#251 Houston Christian 2-10 +5.2 17 2-8 -1.48 0-4 over the last 4 (L10 L11 L12 L13)
#276 Northwestern State 1-11 +2.4 18 4-7 -0.27 0-4 over the last 4 (L10 L11 L12 L13)