Who will win this year’s Big South championship?
In keeping with our weekly What to watch post, and with Liberty on a bye, here’s what to watch today around the conference:
6-0, 0-0 #25 Charleston Southern @ 1-4, 1-2 VMI, 1:30
Are the Buccaneers to be taken seriously in conference play? If they are, then they will have no problem with the Keydets in Lexington. Charleston Southern is a team to watch as their conference slate sets up perfectly for them. They don’t have another conference game until November 2nd at Presbyterian, which should be another win. Then they finish with Coastal, Gardner-Webb, and Liberty. If CSU is somehow able to escape conference play with a 4-1 record, they would have a shot at either winning the conference auto-bid or getting an at-large with a record of 11-2 overall.
Game can be seen on the Big South Network at no charge.
4-2, 0-0 Gardner-Webb @ 5-0, 0-0 #6 Coastal Carolina, 6pm
This would have been a matchup between two top 25 teams until the Runnin’ Bulldogs were upset by 1st year program Charlotte. Will Gardner-Webb make a statement that their wins over Richmond and Wofford are no fluke? Or will the Chanticleers prove they are a legitimate top 10 candidate?
Liberty also faces these two next, so this is an opportunity for FlamesNation to catch a glimpse of the Flames’ upcoming opponents.
Game can be seen on ESPN3.
Tiebreaker
In recent seasons the 3-way tiebreaker has come into play in deciding the Big South’s auto-bid, including last year when Coastal won it over Liberty and Stony Brook. While anything can happen, there is certainly a chance we could have another 3-way tie this season. If we do, the tiebreaker will likely fall to who has the most conference road wins. With each conference team playing 5 games, some teams have 3 conference road games while others have just 2. Here’s a look at the 4 teams with a legitimate shot at a conference title and their road conference schedule:
- Charleston Southern: @ VMI, @ Presbyterian, @ Gardner-Webb
- Coastal Carolina: @ Liberty, @ Charleston Southern
- Gardner-Webb: @ Coastal, @ VMI, @ Presbyterian
- Liberty: @ Gardner-Webb, @ Charleston Southern
It’s really interesting how this breaks down, CSU and Gardner-Webb clearly have the better road schedules as they both have 3 games with 2 of them being VMI and Presbyterian. If either the Buccaneers or the Runnin’ Bulldogs are somehow able to go 3-0 in their road slate, they could be a favorite to win the coveted auto-bid.
Just something to keep an eye on as we move into conference play.
