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- The Sickos Committee’s Weather Travel and Football Master Almanac Notebook. (SCWTFMAN) - The Southland Conference Outlook.
The Sickos Committee’s Weather Travel and Football Master Almanac Notebook. (SCWTFMAN) - The Southland Conference Outlook.
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 Southland Conference
Houston Christian
Last Year 2-9 Overall and 1-5 in the Southland.
They changed their name from Houston Baptist to Houston Christian in May of 2022 and that was really the most notable thing about their season last year. They beat Northern Colorado to open the season and beat fellow Southland cellar dweller Lamar. They were really only close to wins in two other games. Long time coach Vic Shealy resigned and they brought in new Head Coach Braxton Harris from Campbell.
One FBS team in Week 2 at Western Kentucky. Tough out of conference games at UT Martin and Prairie View A&M, then the normal Southland schedule.
Rating - Sickos Advisory - Yeah they have a CVS on the other side of their football stadium and that’s fun to mention but they are picked last in the Southland in the preseason poll. Let’s hope the Huskies have more to bring this year than the extremely long CVS receipts to their games.
Incarnate Word
Last Year 12-2 Overall and 5-1 in the Southland. Conference Co-Champs. Made FCS Semifinals, nearly defeating North Dakota State to make the Finals. Finished ranked 3rd.
Incredible and magical season last year led by QB Lindsay Scott Jr. Just go watch the 4th Quarter of the Quarterfinals between them and Sacramento State. 4th Quarter Highlights of Sacramento State and Incarnate Word. Head Coach GJ Kinne left for Texas State and new Head Coach is their former Assistant Head Coach Clint Killough.
One FBS team to open the season at UTEP and then not too difficult of a non-conference schedule. They got fellow Southland Co-Champion to come to San Antonio this year.
Rating - Sickos Watch - They are picked preseason 2nd in the Southland by a narrow margin. They are also ranked 7th in the preseason FCS poll. Third new Head Coach in three years. They should be fun to watch this year but can they be as explosive with this many changes?
Lamar
Last year 1-10 and 1-5 in the Southland.
They returned to the Southland after their winless WAC experience in 2021. They clipped the Colonels of Nicholls to get their only win last year. They fired 3rd year Head Coach Blane Morgan after a 5-23 record. They brought in new Head Coach Peter Rossomando from Charlotte’s staff. I threw Rossomando into Google Translate and it said it meant blushing. Let’s hope it matches the Lamar Cardinals red.
They open the season welcoming the #8 Idaho Vandals to Beaumont and then go to Monroe for their only FBS game this year. Then they are at South Dakota and then welcome Lincoln (CA), the team that only plays road games. Then finish up their Southland slate.
Rating - Sickos Watch - A new Head Coach, with low expectations and picked to finish second to last in the Southland. We will keep an eye out for the Cardinals but we don’t foresee much improvement but if it does, it’ll shake up the Southland Conference.
McNeese State
Last Year 4-7 Overall and 2-5 in the Southland.
Head Coach Gary Goff returns for his second season in Lake Charles. They had a rough out of conference schedule as they opened at Montana State, then faced Rice. They never recovered until they won their last three games of the season last year.
One FBS game at Florida in Week 2 which starts three straight on the road. Their Southland Conference schedule only has two of their games on the road but one is in Hammond against conference favorite Southeastern Louisiana.
Rating - Sickos Watch - They are picked third in the preseason poll and their odd Southland schedule could have the Cowboys muck up the middle of the conference and maybe spring some surprises. We’d love it too, as Lake Charles and the surrounding areas are slowly coming back from Hurricane Laura which was then followed by Hurricane Delta in 2021, along with a severe winter storm a few months later and then severe flooding in 2022. Sending our love Lake Charles and surrounding areas.
Nicholls
Last Year 3-8 Overall and 3-3 in the Southland.
Head Coach Tim Rebow returns for his 9th season after a crazy Colonels season last year. They started 0-5 with an extremely tough schedule and then alternated wins and losses for the final six games of the year in the Southland.
2023 sees another tough schedule as they open at home against #10 Sacramento State, then back to back FBS games at TCU and at Tulane. Then the standard Southland slate gets interrupted by SEMO, the OVC Conference Champs of 2022. What a brutal schedule.
Rating - Sickos Warning - They are picked 4th in Conference and if their brutal schedule doesn’t break them we could get a nice version of the Chaos Colonels. They have 8 of their 22 starters listed on the Southland Conference Preseason 1st Team.
Northwestern State
Last Year 4-7 Overall and 4-2 in the Southland.
They lost every single out of conference game last year but then only lost to the top two teams in the Southland Conference. Their Head Coach Brad Laird returns for his 5th season as the head of the Demons. Offensive Coordinator Beau Blair returns for his 2nd season. I am just imagining a really southern accent saying Beau Blair. I do declare his name is Beau Blair.
They start 2023 with an FBS tour of Louisiana, at the Ragin Cajuns and then at Louisiana Tech. Due to the schedule four out of seven Southland games are on the road.
Rating - Sickos Warning - The Demons are picked 5th in the conference and have some returning talent at the skill positions on offense. Really don’t have much of a clue how they will do this year but we’re utterly fascinated and that earns a warning.
Southeastern Louisiana
Last Year 9-4 Overall and 5-1 in the Southland. Conference Co-Champions. Made FCS Playoffs, beat Idaho by 3 in the First Round, lost to Samford in OT in the 2nd Round. Finished Ranked 12th.
Very strong year last year. Started 0-2 with two losses to FBS opponents, then won three in a row, lost a confusing one at home to Texas A&M Commerce, but then rattled off six straight wins before their season ended in OT against Samford. Head Coach Frank Scelfo returns for his 6th season.
Open the season with 2 FBS teams, at Mississippi State and at South Alabama. Then they go all the way to Cheney, Washington to play on the red field against Eastern Washington. Such a strange schedule but they return to normal in the Southland slate.
Rating - Sickos Watch - Starting their first three games on the road and against two FBS teams right away is normal for the Lions. The big one in San Antonio against Incarnate Word is on the road. They’re projected first in the Southland Preseason poll, BOTH OF THEIR QBs are ON THE PRESEASON 1ST AND 2ND TEAMS, and ranked 15th to start the year, will they live up to the lofty expectations? Well at least their relatively new logo appears to be taking things seriously.
Texas A&M–Commerce Lions
Last Year 5-6 Overall and 3-3 in Conference.
Texas A&M–Commerce was ineligible for FCS postseason play due to transition from NCAA Division II and that will remain again this year. Their Head Coach David Bailiff stepped down after last year. New Head Coach Clint Dolezel takes over and his last coaching gig was the Head Coach of the Frisco Fighters in the Indoor Football League in 2021. Also, he’s former player for Texas A&M Commerce
They open with 16th Ranked UC Davis at home, then go to Sacramento State, then at their only FBS opponent at Old Dominion and at Stephen F. Austin. The Southland slate has the Lions staying at home much more.
Rating - Sickos Watch - This is a plea we make with all teams who can’t win a Conference title or make the FCS playoffs due to the transition up, please cause some chaos. We just want to see Commerce Chaos running through the Southland. However, the question remains, can they cause chaos? They did beat Southeastern Louisiana last year. Maybe they can do it again?
This has been an excerpt from the Sickos Committee’s Weather, Travel & Football Master Almanac Notebook.
