The Southland looks to produce more than a single selection into the 2004 post-season, and there are several candidates to choose from. In no other conference will scheduling be more crucial. Remember, with S.E. Louisiana still not an official football member, the conference only has 6 clubs.

Games of Interest: 18-Sep Chattanooga vs Jacksonville State; 4-Sep Towson at Elon; 11-Sep EASTERN KENTUCKY at Appalachian St.; 4-Sep GSU at Georgia; 11-Sep Nicholls State at WCU; 25-Sep Furman at Pittsburgh; 2-Oct The Citadel at Duke; 18-Sep Wofford at Georgia Southern

1. Nicholls State : Head-coach Jay Thomas begins his career with the Colonels, a team under a great amount of controversy right now. He must find a way to get things together quickly, as NSU plays an incredibly challenging 2004 slate. The season starts quickly with an opening date with a very talented Eastern Washington club. The a trip to WCU to face an equally-talented SoCon club. The a nice break against a DII? Not when you are facing A&M-Kingsville, perhaps the nations most dominating DII team ... and they return everything but the kitchen sink (and maybe a punter). How about other OOC tilts with Texas Southern, NDSU and IA/AA FLAMU. Let's just throw in a conference road game with McNeese. The funny thing, is that NSU took two penalties for playing a DII, an almost DII in NDSU, & a SWAC club ... remove those and this is the toughest schedule in the country.
   
   4-Sep Eastern Washington
   11-Sep at Western Carolina
   18-Sep Texas A&M-Kingsville
   25-Sep at Texas Southern
   2-Oct North Dakota State 
   9-Oct at Florida A&M
   16-Oct at Sam Houston State*
   23-Oct Northwestern State*
   30-Oct OPEN
   6-Nov Stephen F. Austin*
   13-Nov at Texas State*
   20-Nov at McNeese State*
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Texas State: This year, Texas St. adds a new coach to go with that new name. Coach David Bailiff takes over, as head coach at his alma mater with a lot of new faces, and a very stiff schedule. The Bobcats will face a DII opener, 2 IA clubs (including Baylor), SoCon power Appalachian St., power Cal-Poly, and the SLC powers. Luckily there is an even split among the conference elites.
   
   4-Sep ANGELO STATE
   11-Sep at Baylor
   18-Sep SOUTHEASTERN LA.
   25-Sep Open
   2-Oct at Appalachian State
   9-Oct FLORIDA ATLANTIC
   16-Oct at Cal Poly
   23-Oct STEPHEN F, AUSTIN*
   30-Oct at McNeese State*
   6-Nov at Northwestern State*
   13-Nov NICHOLLS STATE*
   20-Nov at Sam Houston*
   
   
   
   
   
3. McNeese State : Most teams would call a 10-2 record, conference championship, post-season bid (and a top-4 seed) to be a more-than-successful season ... but not Tommy Tate's Cowboys. They return almost 50 letter-winners that are looking to avenge a early exodus in the 2003 post-season. They open with a game against SWAC power Southern's traditionally high-powered offense. Then, in a rematch of the 1997 national championship game, MSU welcomes Youngstown's traditionally high-powered defense. There are also OOC tilts with a rebuilt Portland St. and IA Florida-International. They will also travel to conference foe Northwestern St. and SFA.
   
   4-Sep at Southern
   11-Sep Southeastern
   18-Sep Youngstown State
   25-Sep at Portland State
   2-Oct Southern Utah
   9-Oct Open
   16-Oct at Northwestern State*
   23-Oct at Florida International
   30-Oct Texas State*
   6-Nov at Sam Houston State*
   13-Nov at Stephen F Austin*
   20-Nov Nicholls State*
   
   
   
   
4. Stephen F. Austin: The I-AA nation is talking about coach Santiago's 'Jacks. With good reason. The team (under Santiago) has never had a losing season. Literally ignored by the media in 2003 (except those of you that followed Pete's of course), SFA took the Southland championship down to the final week of the regular season, with 7-4 (4-1 conference) record. This year, the Lumberjacks schedule will have an amazing 7 home games, but face extremely difficult road games against UC-Davis and GFC favorite Northern Iowa. UNI will not be the only powerful 'Northern' on the schedule, as SFA welcomes Northern Arizona to Texas. Well ... at least we know the Lumberjacks will win!
   
   2-Sep Henderson State
   11-Sep Northern Arizona
   18-Sep at Northern Iowa
   25-Sep Southern Utah
   2-Oct OPEN
   9-Oct Florida International
   16-Oct at UC-Davis
   23-Oct at Texas State*
   30-Oct Sam Houston*
   6-Nov at Nicholls St*
   13-Nov McNeese St*
   20-Nov Northwestern St*
   
   
5. Northwestern State: The Demons have a great amount of depth this year, and coach Stoker's club has many conference fans looking. This year's schedule includes a IA opener with LA-Lafayette, a trip to Jackson St., and in a match of potential post-season teams ... the Demons face Appalachian St. In addition ... there are road games against conference members McNeese, Nicholls, and SFA. Keep an eye on the results of the games with Texas Southern and ASU, as other SLC clubs also will face these clubs in '04. This will be a good way to compare conference clubs.
   
   4-Sep at Louisiana-Lafayette
   11-Sep at Jackson State
   18-Sep Texas Southern
   25-Sep Appalachian State
   2-Oct Oklahoma Panhandle State
   9-Oct OPEN
   16-Oct at McNeese State*
   23-Oct at Nicholls State*
   30-Oct at North Dakota State
   6-Nov Texas State*
   13-Nov Sam Houston State*
   20-Nov at Stephen F. Austin*
   
   
   
6. Sam Houston State: Beginning his 35th season as a head coach, Ron Randleman of Sam Houston State University ranks second among active NCAA Division I-AA football coaches in total victories. However, his goal for 2004 is to return the Bearkats to a competitive member of the the Southland ... and I-AA. This year's schedule is what we call "night and day". That is, they will face the highest ... and the lowest. With two sub-IAA games, there is absolutely no room for errors. However, SHS will face national powers Montana and McNeese ... both figuring to win conference championships and top-4 seeds in the post-season. In addition, there will be 2 very dangerous OOC bouts with Northern Colorado and S.W. Missouri St.. Both of these clubs are loaded with talent, well-coached, and capable of beating anyone in the country.
   
   4-Sep OUACHITA BAPTIST
   11-Sep at Southwest Missouri St.
   18-Sep MONTANA
   25-Sep at Southeastern Louisiana
   2-Oct Open
   9-Oct TARLETON ST.
   16-Oct NICHOLLS ST.*
   23-Oct NORTHERN COLORADO
   30-Oct at Stephen F. Austin St.*
   6-Nov McNEESE ST. *
   13-Nov at Northwestern St.*
   20-Nov TEXAS ST.*