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- The Sickos Committee’s Weather Travel and Football Master Almanac Notebook. (SCWTFMAN) - The United Athletic Conference - Starts chanting UAC, UAC, UAC, UAC!
The Sickos Committee’s Weather Travel and Football Master Almanac Notebook. (SCWTFMAN) - The United Athletic Conference - Starts chanting UAC, UAC, UAC, UAC!
Welcome to the Sickos Committee’s Weather, Travel & Football Master Almanac Notebook aka the SCWTFMAN.
Here in our SCWTFMAN we will attempt to forecast the upcoming 2023 college football season by using our Sickos Committee alert system. We’re going to do this in the Farmer’s Almanac style. If you don’t know what a Farmers' Almanac is, basically it provides long-range weather predictions for both the U.S. and Canada. We will be applying our forecast to all of Division I in the United States. We’re trying to predict what the upcoming season holds for all Division I teams in college football using our Sickos Committee Weather Alert System.
First we will preview the 128 FCS teams in a conference by conference breakdown over the next coming weeks. Then we will get to the 133 FBS teams for a total of 261 team previews in all.
Will these previews be long winded and incredibly in depth? No. Will these previews be mostly based on “vibes” as assessed by the Sickos Committee weather forecasters? Yes.
Basically, we’re going to try to assess the team as a Sickos Warning, Watch or Advisory, give you their record last year, provide a little blurb about the team and for the FCS version to advise you of any of their games against the FBS and interesting schedule tidbits. We will do a couple of parts here for the substack as we can’t fit all the teams in one post. THE END OF THE FCS PREVIEWS!!
The United Athletic Conference
This conference is a merger of the Atlantic Sun (ASUN) and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Formerly known as the WAC-ASUN Challenge.
Abilene Christian
Last season: 7-4 overall, 3-1 in WAC, 1-1 in WAC-ASUN Challenge, WAC Co-Champion
Last year was a weird one for the WAC. Due to scheduling issues and the upcoming United Athletic Conference alliance with the ASUN, ACU played conference opponent Stephen F. Austin twice, once in conference, and once non-con. They dropped both of those games.
In 2023, as part of the UAC, they play a non-conference schedule of Northern Colorado, Prairie View A&M, Incarnate Word, FBS North Texas, and close the year at FBS Texas A&M.
Rating - Sickos Watch - They’re transferring in the most FBS players of any team in the league, so they’re looking to make a splash. I’m just going to warn y’all now, I love this conference, I love how much purple is in the logos, and I’m starting everything at a Watch minimum.
Austin Peay
Last season: 7-4 overall, 3-2 in ASUN, 3-1 in WAC-ASUN Challenge
In 2022, the Governors spent a few weeks in the FCS Poll, peaking at No. 22 before losing a game against Central Arkansas. Their Week 0 game against Western Kentucky is best known as the first D1 college football game of 2022. They ended up ASUN Conference co-champions in a three way tie with EAstern Kentucky and Central Arkansas.
This year, Austin Peay has a non-conference plate of Southern Illinois, FBS Tennessee, East Tennessee State, Lindewood, and Gardner-Webb.
Rating - Sickos Watch - The Governors look like a team that could challenge Eastern Kentucky for the UAC title. Also, I’ve always wanted to say I beveled a Governor.
Central Arkansas
Last season: 5-6 overall, 3-2 in ASUN, 4-1 in WAC-ASUN Challenge
Central Arkansas had a rough time in the non-conference part of their schedule but played well against ASUN and WAC teams to get a share of the conference title at 3-2.
In 2023, the Bears will play FBS Oklahoma State, NAIA Texas College, North Dakota State, and Southeast Missouri State as non-conference opponents.
Rating - Sickos Warning - You’ve seen their field, right?
Eastern Kentucky
Last season: 7-5 overall, 3-2 in ASUN, 4-1 in WAC-ASUN Challenge, made the FCS playoffs
In 2022, Eastern Kentucky peaked at #16 in the FCS poll and ended up snagging the WAC-ASUN automatic qualifying spot for the playoffs. In non-conference, they defeated FBS Bowling Green in 7 OTs 59-57 in Week 2.
The Colonels have a tougher non-conference schedule in 2023, including trips to Cincinnati and Kentucky, along with Western Carolina, Southeast Missouri State, Tarleton State, and Gardner-Webb at home. They return a ton of talent, including QB Parker McKinney, along with their leading rusher and receiver from last year.
Rating - Sickos Watch - They’re on the inside track to get the playoff spot again, but there’s a lot of talent they’re up against in the conference.
North Alabama
Last season: 1-10 overall, 0-5 in ASUN, 0-4 in WAC-ASUN Challenge
In 2022, their only win came against D2 Virginia-Wise. North Alabama fired 4th year head coach Chris Willis with 3 games left in the year.
New head coach Brent Dearmon has his work cut out for him in 2023, including non-conference games against No. 20 FCS Mercer, Chattanooga, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin, and Florida State. The Lions have only had one winning season since moving up from D2 in 2018.
Rating - Sickos Watch - It’s a young team with a new coach, and we have that North Alabama starts moving in a positive direction.
Southern Utah
Last season: 5-6 overall, 1-3 in WAC, 0-3 in WAC-ASUN Challenge
Southern Utah’s wins in 2022 came against non-con opponents St. Thomas, Western Illinois, and Lincoln (CA), along with conference opponents Utah Tech and Sam Houston.
In 2023, the Thunderbirds start with a rough schedule that includes trips to Arizona State, BYU, and UC Davis, before playing Western Illinois at home. The Thunderbirds are bringing back an all-conference QB.
Rating - Sickos Watch - With a little bit of experience behind the offensive side of the ball, the Thunderbirds might make it to the middle of the UAC table.
Stephen F. Austin
Last season: 6-5 overall, 3-1 in WAC, 2-1 in WAC-ASUN Challenge, WAC Co-Champion
The Lumberjacks started ranked No. 10 FCS in 202 but dropped out after losses to Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, and Sam Houston. This team is probably best remembered for beating NAIA Warner 98-0 in Week 4.
In 2023, SFA has Troy, Alcorn State, Northwestern State, and Texas A&M-Commerce out of conference. They return a bunch of talent on both sides of the ball.
Rating - Sickos Warning. The Lumberjacks could crash the top of the UAC table. Also, now that they’re part of the University of Texas system, are they going to ditch the purple for a nice orange? Only time will tell.
Tarleton Texans
Last season: 6-5 overall, 1-3 in WAC.
Only a few seasons out from playing in D2, Tarleton State had their 3rd straight winning FCS season in 2022, including non-conference wins over Mississippi Valley State, Eastern New Mexico, North Alabama, D2 Southwest Baptist, and Houston Christian.
The Texans have McNeese, Texas Tech, Southwest Baptist, Southeastern Louisiana, and Morehead State lined up for a non-conference schedule in 2023.
Rating - Sickos Watch - They’ve got a few great transfers along with returning skill position players, but is that going to be enough to move up in the UAC?
Utah Tech Trailblazers
Last season: 4-7 overall, 2-2 in WAC.
Another team just a few years out of D2, Utah Tech hasn’t had the same success as Tarleton. In 2022, their biggest win came against WAC Co-champion Stephen F. Austin.
The Trailblazers have an absolute gauntlet their first five games: at Montana State, vs. Montana, at Northern Arizona, at Missouri State, at Colorado State. If they make it out of that run with at least a win or two, that’ll be a big positive for the team.
Rating - Sickos Advisory - Utah Tech is going to need some of their younger players to step up if they’re going to get to a winning record in 2023.
This has been an excerpt from the Sickos Committee’s Weather, Travel & Football Master Almanac Notebook.
