Let me just start off by saying the SWAC might be the best of the abbreviated conferences when you say it. It just comes off as something cool and makes you puff out your chest a little when you say it. Ok enough being weird...we start off with a conference who, if your looking strictly at attendance numbers you would think it was a great conference, but alas the reality is that SWAC is at the bottom of the totem pole and for good reason. And it sucks that's its at this level because of all the history, tradition, the alumni but the product that is produced year after year is just bad.
Placement Reasoning
What you will see with a lot of the lower ranked conferences is that outside of the conference, most of the teams can't hang with the others. The SWAC is the guiltiest of the lot. Outside of Grambling, the SWAC doesn't have a lot in terms of depth and teams who can go out of conference and take down even a small fry from say the Southland or NEC. They were one of three teams without a win versus a Top 25 (FCS polls) team and only had a combined three wins versus non-conference FCS teams. Yes, Grambling has come back from the depths (remember the story a couple years back about the state of the football program?) and are as good as advertised but after that there is a drop off to Southern and Alcorn St. then the quality falls off a cliff. The likes of Jackson St and Alabama St have had past success but as of now this is a two or three team conference.
2017 Recap
Well it was pretty much your typical year for the SWAC...as I said in the section above the conference went 3-23 versus non-conference FCS with two of them against Southland bottom feeders. And then played 11 games from D-II HBUs with two really regrettable losses including a 34-5 loss to Central St, giving them its only win of the year. As for the conference championship races, Alcorn St took care of the East division while the Bayou Classic decided the West as Grambling came away the division and in an entertaining championship game took the SWAC title. Couple weeks later in Atlanta, the Tigers fell short of the HBU national championship falling to North Carolina A&T. Yes, I talked about it and said it was really sloppy but still a decent game nevertheless. Quick sidenote, why doesn't the D-II HBUs get involved in the HBU national championship? I can imagine it might be a bit of a schedule nightmare but I wouldn't mind seeing each league champion going against each other to decide a champion on ESPN
Playoff/National Championship Contenders
As you most who follow FCS football know the two HBU conferences (SWAC and MEAC) don't play for the national championship but have their own championship game between conferences. As I said before the way to make it better is having the four major HBU conferences get together to crown a real HBU National Champion but that is for a different post. So since they don't factor into the playoffs as we know, the contenders talked about will be for the HBU National championship
The Favorite
Grambling
Its truly amazing how far this program has come, just as early as the turn of the 2010s, Grambling was in complete shambles. But out of the rubble comes a program that is like that of the Doug Williams (coaching) days. Now they do have to replace a few parts, including all everything QB Devante Kincade, but they still retain a lot of key pieces and should still be right there for the SWAC championship
The Contenders
Alcorn St
Last years runners-up in the SWAC pretty much return everyone as they had only 12 seniors on the roster though one was its starting QB. Luckily for Coach McNair (yes the brother of the late NFL QB) it shouldn't keep the offense from being one of the top in the conference as it has averaged over 420/ypg in each of the last two years
Southern
If the last few years are any indication, the Jaguars will be right on the heels of Grambling throughout the conference season. Three of the last four Bayou Classic games have determined the SWAC West title and 2018 will probably be no different. Now hopefully for Southern fans they are on the other side of score as they have lost the last two games including last November's 30-21 setback
Teams to add/subtract
This one is pretty simple...the SWAC hasn't added or lost a member since the mid-60s. So for this conference, if it ain't broke don't fix it right
Best/Worst
Time to have some fun here...though admittedly, I'm gonna cheat on a few of these. Hey its my list, sue me
Stadium
Best - New ASU Stadium
Ok, terrible name aside, this place puts a lot of FBS stadiums to shame. Opened in 2012, seats a little over 26,000 and has field turf. Looks beautiful and has a fast track...hard to complain about that
Placement Reasoning
What you will see with a lot of the lower ranked conferences is that outside of the conference, most of the teams can't hang with the others. The SWAC is the guiltiest of the lot. Outside of Grambling, the SWAC doesn't have a lot in terms of depth and teams who can go out of conference and take down even a small fry from say the Southland or NEC. They were one of three teams without a win versus a Top 25 (FCS polls) team and only had a combined three wins versus non-conference FCS teams. Yes, Grambling has come back from the depths (remember the story a couple years back about the state of the football program?) and are as good as advertised but after that there is a drop off to Southern and Alcorn St. then the quality falls off a cliff. The likes of Jackson St and Alabama St have had past success but as of now this is a two or three team conference.
2017 Recap
Well it was pretty much your typical year for the SWAC...as I said in the section above the conference went 3-23 versus non-conference FCS with two of them against Southland bottom feeders. And then played 11 games from D-II HBUs with two really regrettable losses including a 34-5 loss to Central St, giving them its only win of the year. As for the conference championship races, Alcorn St took care of the East division while the Bayou Classic decided the West as Grambling came away the division and in an entertaining championship game took the SWAC title. Couple weeks later in Atlanta, the Tigers fell short of the HBU national championship falling to North Carolina A&T. Yes, I talked about it and said it was really sloppy but still a decent game nevertheless. Quick sidenote, why doesn't the D-II HBUs get involved in the HBU national championship? I can imagine it might be a bit of a schedule nightmare but I wouldn't mind seeing each league champion going against each other to decide a champion on ESPN
Playoff/National Championship Contenders
As you most who follow FCS football know the two HBU conferences (SWAC and MEAC) don't play for the national championship but have their own championship game between conferences. As I said before the way to make it better is having the four major HBU conferences get together to crown a real HBU National Champion but that is for a different post. So since they don't factor into the playoffs as we know, the contenders talked about will be for the HBU National championship
The Favorite
Grambling
Its truly amazing how far this program has come, just as early as the turn of the 2010s, Grambling was in complete shambles. But out of the rubble comes a program that is like that of the Doug Williams (coaching) days. Now they do have to replace a few parts, including all everything QB Devante Kincade, but they still retain a lot of key pieces and should still be right there for the SWAC championship
The Contenders
Alcorn St
Last years runners-up in the SWAC pretty much return everyone as they had only 12 seniors on the roster though one was its starting QB. Luckily for Coach McNair (yes the brother of the late NFL QB) it shouldn't keep the offense from being one of the top in the conference as it has averaged over 420/ypg in each of the last two years
Southern
If the last few years are any indication, the Jaguars will be right on the heels of Grambling throughout the conference season. Three of the last four Bayou Classic games have determined the SWAC West title and 2018 will probably be no different. Now hopefully for Southern fans they are on the other side of score as they have lost the last two games including last November's 30-21 setback
Teams to add/subtract
This one is pretty simple...the SWAC hasn't added or lost a member since the mid-60s. So for this conference, if it ain't broke don't fix it right
Best/Worst
Time to have some fun here...though admittedly, I'm gonna cheat on a few of these. Hey its my list, sue me
Stadium
Best - New ASU Stadium
Ok, terrible name aside, this place puts a lot of FBS stadiums to shame. Opened in 2012, seats a little over 26,000 and has field turf. Looks beautiful and has a fast track...hard to complain about that
Ok, ok, it is named after Jerry Rice but when you compare it to the rest of the stadiums around the conference it falls short. Its a bit small and reminds you of what you played on when you were in high school, you know nice when the season begins but after a game or two turns into a dirt track thats perfect for a mud game (man I wish I played in more of those)
Worst - Grambling
Fan Base & Tradition
The big cheat...for a conference who's quality of football isn't the highest among football lore, the fact that the conference leads the FCS in attendance goes to show you that the fans and alumni show up and not just for the big games but all games. Add that to the bands, the different "classics" and other events the SWAC does it right, even if we don't see it more than four or five times a year nationally
Uniforms
Best - Prairie View
As much as I want to say Grambling or Southern...its hard to go against against
the two toned look of the Panthers. Plus you can tell they have some mix n match options which I always love...though be careful cause it can get outta control. But tis the craze
Yea, they may be iconic, but they are pretty plain jane kinda boring. Like a step above Penn St level of uniforms. They have had a few changes over the years but compared to everyone else, it cool but just eh
2018 Outlook
The outlook for this conference is pretty much the same as it is every year. The teams have it share of pay games, most they will get blown out in, cause well that how it goes. A few teams will play some non-conference FCS schools, a couple of winnable games in the lot. The the rest of the schedule will be filled with conference games and games versus D-II HBU schools...and one or two games versus lower level. A good year would be once again being at the top of the heap attendance wise, a solid SWAC championship game, and a team winning the Celebration Bowl (should just be the HBU Championship game but whatever). Anything other than that would be a bit of a downer for a conference that doesn't have a ton outside of that. It really just plays in its own pond and doesn't much worry about everyone else
And that is that...up next we discuss the conference who does it a bit differently than everyone else but has started coming up big come playoff time. #12...the Pioneer League
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