(STATS) – The top teams in the Southland Conference are walking around on egg shells. Nobody can afford to take another bad step.
The Southland boasts three teams that are tied for first place, four nationally ranked teams and five squads within one game of each other in the standings yet they appear to be competing for only two or three spots in the FCS playoffs.
No. 13 Central Arkansas (5-2) and No. 14 McNeese (5-2), which play each other in Louisiana on Saturday, are 4-1 in the conference and part of a three-way tie for first place, while No. 20 Nicholls (4-3) and No. 23 Sam Houston State (4-3) are both a game behind at 3-2. But unranked UIW (4-3, 4-1), which has won three more games in coach Eric Morris’ first season than last year, has the most direct path, if not the hardest, to winning the title.
The Cardinals whipped McNeese 45-17 last weekend and faces the other three ranked Southland teams over the next three Saturdays, including a trip to Nicholls on Saturday.
“That game is behind us and we have to move on to this week,” McNeese coach Lance Guidry said earlier this week, echoing the sentiment across the conference, even with UIW.
The situation is so dicey for the top Southland teams that Sam Houston can sweep its final four games and still have its seven-year streak of playoff appearances – the third-longest active run in the FCS – come to an end. The Bearkats host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday.
Here’s how unpredictable the conference has been this season on a weekly basis: McNeese beat Nicholls, Nicholls beat Sam Houston, Sam Houston beat Central Arkansas, UIW lost to Lamar and Nicholls lost to Abilene Christian in the same week, then Sam Houston fell to Lamar on the same day UIW beat McNeese. If it seems Lamar should be part of the title race, well, it is only 2-3 and in eighth place in the competitive 11-team conference.
The Southland has never had four teams qualify for the playoffs in a single season, but it has had three make it six times, including last year.