SWAC teams scrambling after scheduling rule change

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Athletic directors across the SWAC still appear to be in scramble mode.

The conference plans to switch from the current round-robin format of nine league games to seven starting with the 2017 season, a decision that came in May of last year. The change leaves SWAC teams struggling to find two more nonconference opponents on short notice.

“I think the biggest thing you see in Year 1 is it might be a scramble because everybody’s already gone three to five years out (in setting up their schedules),” Alcorn State athletic director Derek Horne said. “You have to be very aggressive in how you move toward it.”

SWAC teams will play a designated rival and two rotating home and home games with opponents from the opposite division in addition to their current four games in their division.

The SWAC has bounced between a seven- and nine-game conference schedule since expanding to 10 teams in 1999. Conference programs played seven league games from 2000-04 and 2008-09 before switching to the current format in 2010.

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