The Southland Conference held its football media day Monday in San Antonio, and media members released the preseason poll on the projected order of finish for the conference. Incarnate Word was picked to defend its Southland title, and last year’s runner-up, Southeastern Louisiana, was picked third.
Lions head coach Frank Scelfo boasts an experienced roster with 25 returning seniors. Southeastern narrowly missed out on the playoffs and a conference championship after two three-point losses to ranked FCS opponents last season. This year, senior defensive lineman Kaleb Proctor said they’re focusing on the details to find those missing three points.
“We don’t want to leave it in anybody else’s hands as to the outcome of our season,” said Proctor. “We want to do our job, do the things we know we can do and let the chips fall where they fall. We don’t want to leave it up to anybody else, so that’s really the main thing, just taking care of our business, doing the things that we know we can do and just handling business.”
The Lions’ 2025 campaign kicks off Aug. 30 at Louisiana Tech.
Nicholls finished fifth in the preseason poll after posting a 2-and-5 record last year. Head coach Tommy Rybacki will lead the program for the first time this season after ten years as the Colonels’ defensive coordinator. Rybacki’s defense has consistently been one of the best in the Southland, and he’s looking to continue their success.
“The progress that we made as a program in ten years I would put up against anybody in FCS football, and our job is to make the same amount of progress in the next ten years,” said Rybacki.
There will also be a first-year starting quarterback in Thibodaux in junior transfer Deuce Hogan. Hogan was previously at Iowa, Kentucky and New Mexico State. The Colonel’s season begins Aug. 23 against Incarnate Word.
McNeese follows the Colonel’s at sixth in the poll. The Cowboys are welcoming back head coach Matt Viator after ten seasons away from Lake Charles Viator led the Cowboys to four Southland titles from 2006 to 2015 before taking the head coaching job at ULM. He said when he arrived in the spring, he wanted to restart the program from square one.
“I don’t know what’s happened in the past. I haven’t asked and wasn’t apart of that, but moving forward, I think culture wins, certainly wins in the long run. To have any consistency you have to have a consistent culture. The expectation of your players and how you prepare each and every day, that’s where it all starts,” said Viator.
McNeese will start the season Aug. 30 at home versus Louisiana Christian University.
Northwestern State was picked to finish ninth out of ten. The Demons were winless in head coach Blaine McCorkle’s first season last year, but he said better days are coming. The Demons are one of the youngest teams in the country, with 50 incoming and redshirt freshmen. McCorkle said these young talents have been great for building a new culture in Natchitoches, but their development will take time.
“The best thing that we can have for us is birthdays,” said McCorkle. “We need to get older. We need to get bigger. We need to get stronger. When you walk in that room every day you see a lot of young guys, but they are eager they’re excited. They don’t really know anything different than the culture that we’ve brought, so that’s allowed us to change things pretty quick and build the program that we want to build.”
Northwestern opens 2025 with a Thursday night game in Natchitoches Aug 28 against Alcorn.
2025 Southland Conference Preseason Poll
Team (First-place votes) | Points
1. UIW (15) | 158
2. SFA (3) | 137
3. Southeastern (1) | 136
4. Lamar (1) | 112
5. Nicholls | 91
6. McNeese | 85
T7. East Texas A&M | 59
T7. HCU | 59
9. Northwestern State | 39
10. UTRGV | 24
