The Big South–OVC Football Association is an association of football members of the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

and Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). The Big South–OVC covers the midwestern,

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

, and

Northeast U.S. The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

with member institutions located in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

History

Big South Conference

In the 2021–22 season, the

was made up of nine football-playing members including full members Campbell University,

Charleston Southern University Charleston Southern University (CSU) is a private Baptist university in North Charleston, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention ( Southern Baptist Convention). History Charleston Southern University was ch ...

, Gardner-Webb University,

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

, and North Carolina A&T State University, and associate members Kennesaw State University, Monmouth University, University of North Alabama, and Robert Morris University. The following changes occurred dwindling the football membership from nine members in 2021 to four members by 2023, dropping below the minimum of six members required for an automatic bid for the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs. * On January 29, 2021, the

ASUN Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Divisio ...

announced its intent of sponsoring football in the

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

(FCS) for the 2022. The new league lead to the departure of Kennesaw State University and University of North Alabama after the 2021 season. * On January 25, 2022, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA; since renamed the Coastal Athletic Association) announced that

and Monmouth University would join that conference on July 1, 2022. Both also joined

CAA Football The Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference, formerly the Colonial Athletic Association Football Conference, branded as CAA Football, is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are loca ...

, the CAA's legally separate football league, at that time. * On February 22, 2022, the CAA also announced that North Carolina A&T State University would be leaving the Big South, joining CAA Football on July 1, 2023. * On March 29, 2022,

Bryant University Bryant University is a private university in Smithfield, Rhode Island. It has two colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business, and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. History Butler Exc ...

announced as a new football-only member effective with the 2022 season. * On August 3, 2022, Campbell University announced that it would join the multi-sports CAA and CAA Football in 2023 as well.

Ohio Valley Conference

The Ohio Valley Conference also dropped below the number of eligible teams required for an automatic bid for the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs between the 2021 and 2023 seasons. In the 2021 season, the OVC included

Austin Peay University Austin Peay State University () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitt ...

Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...

University of Tennessee, Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis ...

, Tennessee State University, and

Tennessee Tech University Tennessee Technological University, commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech, is a Public university, public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as ...

. The following changes occurred to lower eligible football-playing members from seven to five by 2023. *On September 17, 2021,

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitt ...

left for the

, which ultimately launched its own football league in 2022. *On January 7, 2022,

announced its intent to leave the OVC, left for the Missouri Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference. In a separate statement, Murray State's president indicated that the football team would remain in the OVC in the 2022 season, ensuring that the OVC would retain its automatic bid to the FCS playoffs in that season and giving the league more time to add new football members. Murray State would eventually be accepted by the MVFC effective in 2023. *On February 23, 2022, the OVC added

Lindenwood University Lindenwood University is a private university in St. Charles, Missouri. Founded in 1827 by George Champlin Sibley and Mary Easton Sibley as The Lindenwood School for Girls, it is the second-oldest higher-education institution west of the Missis ...

, transitioning from D-II. Lindenwood will not be eligible for the postseason until the 2026–27 season, therefore it will not count towards the football membership for the automatic qualifying bid for the FCS playoffs until then. *On May 12, 2023, the OVC added Western Illinois University from the Summit League. Western Illinois houses its football program in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and it was announced that the Leathernecks would play out the 2023 season in the MVFC before joining its other sports and competing under the Big South-OVC banner for 2024 and beyond.

Merger

On February 22, the conference announced its intent to combine its football membership with the Ohio Valley Conference beginning in 2023. With the release of the 2023 joint football schedule, it was announced that the partnership between the two conferences would exist through the 2026–27 season. The members of the merger will include

, Gardner-Webb University,

, Robert Morris University,

, Tennessee State University, and

, with Western Illinois University joining in 2024. On August 10, 2023, prior to the start of the association's inaugural season, Bryant announced it would depart from the association to join

in 2024. On November 28, 2023, Robert Morris announced that it would depart from the association to re-join the Northeast Conference as an associate member for football in 2024.

Member schools

Inaugural members

Future members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2022 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:AssocF value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:Full value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to anonference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: Big South bar:1 color:AssocF from:2023 till:2024 text:

Bryant Bryant may refer to: Organizations * Bryant Bank, a bank in Alabama, United States * Bryant Electric Company, an American manufacturer of electrical components * Bryant Homes, a British house builder, part of Taylor Woodrow * Bryant University ...

(2023-2024) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2024 till:end text:

bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: Big South bar:2 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text:

Charleston Southern Charleston Southern University (CSU) is a private Baptist university in North Charleston, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention ( Southern Baptist Convention). History Charleston Southern University was ch ...

(2023–present) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: OVC bar:3 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text:

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

(2023–present) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: Big South bar:4 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text: Gardner-Webb (2023–present) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: OVC bar:5 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text:

Lindenwood Lindenwood may refer to a place in the United States: *Lindenwood, Illinois *Lindenwood, Queens, New York *Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne, Indiana In education: * Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri * Lindenwood University – Bellevil ...

(2023–present) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: Big South bar:6 color:AssocF from:2023 till:2024 text: Robert Morris (2023–2024) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2024 till:end text: NEC bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: OVC bar:7 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text: Southeast Missouri (2023–present) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: OVC bar:8 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text:

Tennessee State Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennesse ...

(2023–present) bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: OVC bar:9 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text: Tennessee Tech (2023–present) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2023 text: OVC bar:10 color:AssocF from:2023 till:end text:

UT Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis ...

(2023–present) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:2022 till:2024 text: MVFC bar:11 color:AssocF from:2024 till:end text:

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-County (United States), county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of ...

(2024–future) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2022 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Big South–OVC football membership history" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Big South-OVC football Sports in the Midwestern United States Sports in the Southern United States Articles which contain graphical timelines