The Southland Conference has announced its 2025 football schedule, which begins with a Week Zero contest featuring UIW at Nicholls.
For the 2025 season, the Southland Conference expands to 10 football-playing members with the addition of the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros, which will be playing their first season of football. UTRGV joins returning members East Texas A&M (formerly known as Texas A&M-Commerce), Houston Christian (HCU), Lamar, McNeese, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin, and Incarnate Word (UIW).
Each Southland conference team will play an eight-game conference schedule. Teams will also play 12-games schedules in 2025 due to NCAA bylaws and the calendar. The last time this occurred was the 2024 season and it will naturally occur again in 2025.
Four previously unannounced non-conference matchups involving Southland teams were also revealed by the schedule release and are listed below:
- West Georgia at Nicholls (Sept. 6)
- MVSU at Southeastern La. (Sept. 13)
- Sul Ross State at Stephen F. Austin (Sept. 13)
- NC Central at East Texas A&M (Sept. 27); replaces Tenn. Tech at East Texas A&M on Sept. 13
Kickoff times and television designations will be announced at a later date.
2025 Southland Football Schedules
- 2025 HCU Football Schedule
- 2025 Lamar Football Schedule
- 2025 McNeese Football Schedule
- 2025 Nicholls Football Schedule
- 2025 Northwestern State Football Schedule
- 2025 Southeastern Louisiana Football Schedule
- 2025 Stephen F. Austin Football Schedule
- 2025 Texas A&M-Commerce Football Schedule
- 2025 UIW Football Schedule
- 2025 UTRGV Football Schedule
2025 Southland Conference Football Schedule
2025 Southland Conference Football Schedule pic.twitter.com/iET6RZAZ26
— FBSchedules.com (@FBSchedules) February 4, 2025
What’s the rule on FCS teams playing Week Zero games?
I see that Incarnate Word & Nicholls State got an exemption.
The other 3 FCS games that week:
-Southern/NC Central is at a neutral site
-UC Davis/Mercer is also at a neutral site
-Portland State, who plays at Hawai’i later, hosts Tarleton
I don’t know how UIW & Nicholls got an exemption.
FCS teams can play in Week Zero if the game is nationally televised on a linear network (not streaming only). So the game will be on TV.
Got it. I remember some years back Cal Poly hosted Colgate in Week 0, and that game had to be ESPNU.
@Evan – 2017 was the year. That same Week 0 ESPNU actually had a double header where Texas Southern also played Florida A&M on the earlier timeslot.