CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Missouri Valley Football Conference Presidents Council voted on Friday to postpone conference competition until the spring. The 11-member league will play a full eight-game spring league schedule with the expectation to culminate the season with the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.
One-by-one during the past several weeks, FCS conferences elected not to play college football this fall. The tipping point for the MVFC came on Thursday, when the Big Sky Conference and Pioneer League both canceled fall football, effectively eliminating postseason. Previously, the NCAA said there would need to be 50 percent of eligible teams playing in the fall to justify a postseason tournament.
“This decision to move to the spring comes with the expectation that our student-athletes will have an opportunity to play in the FCS Playoffs,” said Southern Illinois Director of Athletics Liz Jarnigan. “The feedback we received from our student-athletes was that they want to compete for a national title. That was the rationale for our conference’s decision.”
MVFC schools are still permitted to play up to three non-conference games this fall, and Jarnigan said she is actively exploring options. The Salukis have a non-conference game at Kansas on Aug. 29, though that date is likely to change, she said. SIU and UT Martin have agreed to move their Sept. 3 game to an open date in the 2025 season, according to Jarnigan. Southern also has a home game versus SEMO scheduled on Sept. 19.
SIU started practice on July 31, and head coach Nick Hill said the team will take several days off to process the schedule changes.
“We’re going to take some time to digest how the league decision will affect our student-athletes and make sure we listen to their concerns,” said head coach Nick Hill. “Our players’ health and welfare remains our top priority.”
To date, SIU players have been tested three times for Covid-19 with no positive tests.
