By Southern Pigskin Staff
SouthernPigskin.com

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A look at the 2021 fall schedule in the Southern Conference.

SoConSports.com

SPARTANBURG, S.C. xe2x80x93 The 2021 Southern Conference fall football schedule will kick off with four nonconference games on Thursday, Sept. 2, while the leaguexe2x80x99s remaining five teams get their seasons under way two days later.

The Citadel visits FBS Coastal Carolina on Sept. 2, while Mercer hosts Point, Samford welcomes Tennessee Tech and Chattanooga hosts Austin Peay that day.

Defending SoCon champion VMI opens its season on Sept. 4 when it hosts Davidson, while coach Kerwin Bell makes his debut at the helm for Western Carolina when the Catamounts host Eastern Kentucky. ETSU (at Vanderbilt), Furman (vs. North Carolina A&T) and Wofford (at Elon) round out the opening-weekend slate.

Eight teams in are in action the following weekend, highlighted by Mercer visiting defending national champion Alabama. SoCon play opens Sept. 18 when Western Carolina hosts Samford.

Three league games highlight the Sept. 25 slate, while each weekend the rest of the way features a full four-game conference schedule.

SoCon squads face nine FBS opponents on the season, including seven Power 5 teams. In addition to ETSU opening at Vanderbilt and the Bears taking on the Crimson Tide the following weekend, Western Carolina heads to Oklahoma on Sept. 11, Furman is at NC State and Chattanooga is at Kentucky on Sept. 18, Samford visits Florida on Nov. 13 and Wofford wraps up the regular season at North Carolina on Nov. 20.

ETSU, Chattanooga and VMI appear in the HERO Sports Preseason Top 25. The Keydets, who went 6-1 in league play in the spring to claim their first SoCon title since 1977 and advance to the FCS playoffs for the first time in program history, check in at No. 13 in the poll, while Chattanooga, which went 3-1 in SoCon action before opting out of the remainder of the season, is No. 20. ETSU, which went 4-2 in conference play in the spring, is No. 23 in the HERO Sports poll.

Full broadcast schedules will be announced later, but all nine schoolsxe2x80x99 home games will air on ESPN+ if not selected for national or regional broadcast.

For the composite league schedule, click here.