OZARKSFIRST

(Stats Perform) - The celebration across the Southland Conference goes way beyond its 60th-year anniversary this academic year.

There's a bigger and, they hope, better conference title race with eight teams involved instead of six, like last season. UIW reversed a plan to move into the Western Athletic Conference and charter member Lamar returned a year early.

However, due to the late changes, the reworking of the Southland's conference schedule has resulted in the teams playing only six conference games instead of seven. The rivalry between McNeese and Northwestern State is one of the matchups that will not occur, and the UIW at Nicholls game won't count in the standings.