Head coach Jed Stugart and his Lindenwood Lions will play their first season in NCAA Division I-FCS as members of the Ohio Valley Conference beginning in September. (Photo courtesy: Lindenwood Athletics)
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
With training camp set to begin in a little more than a week, the Lindenwood University football team found out it had been picked to finish seventh in its much-anticipated first season in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Lindenwood, which for several years had been one of the top teams in NCAA Division II, will be playing its first season as members of the NCAA Division I-FCS and will be doing so in the seven-team OVC.
The Lions, who had won back-to-back league championships in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2019 and 2021 (Lindenwood didn’t compete in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic), went 14-0 in conference play and made the NCAA Tournament both seasons, as well.
“We had some good success in the GLVC,” Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart said, during OVC Media Day back in July. “But we’re really excited to have a chance to compete at the Division I-level in the OVC. There’s some great teams in this league, and we’re ready to see where we match up against them.”
Defending conference champ, Tennessee-Martin was picked to win the OVC this fall in a poll of league coaches and communication directors. The Skyhawks received 10 of the 14 first-place votes and 70 total points overall.
Southeast Missouri State came in second with three first-place votes and 59 total points. Murray State and Tennessee State were third and fourth, respectively, with the Racers earning 51 points and the Tigers getting the final first-place vote and picking up 46 total points.
Lindenwood came in seventh, with 19 points, one point behind Eastern Illinois, which had 20 points. Tennessee Tech was the other team in the poll, coming in fifth with 29 points.
The Lions will being the 2022 season on September 10, when they’ll go on the road to play Houston Baptist University. It was just announced this past weekend that that game will kickoff at 6 p.m.
Lindenwood’s 2022 home opener will be the following week on September 17, when it will host NCAA Division III powerhouse, Keiser University at Hunter Stadium. That game will also kickoff at 6 p.m.