Big South Releases 2020 Football Conference Schedule
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – The Big South Conference, which sent two teams to the FCS Playoffs for the fifth time in eight seasons in 2019 and advanced in the postseason for the eighth time in nine years, announced today its 2020 football conference schedule. The league’s six eligible football members will each play a 5-game league slate next fall that will determine the Big South’s automatic qualifier to the postseason. Transitional member North Alabama will again appear on the schedule, but will not count as a conference game.
The 2020 conference schedule will encompass a seven-week span beginning Oct. 10 with two contests -- Charleston Southern at Campbell, and Gardner-Webb at Hampton. The Camels will open their Big South slate at home for the second-straight year, while the Buccaneers will begin league action on the road for the second consecutive time as well. Hampton begins its second Big South season with a home game for the first time, with Gardner-Webb starting on the road for the first time since 2017. Those four teams will also go head-to-head in the regular-season finale on Nov. 21, with Campbell hosting GWU, and CSU visiting Hampton.
The Big South’s two FCS Playoff teams in 2019 -- Monmouth and Kennesaw State -- will open league play on Saturday, Oct. 24. The reigning champion Hawks begin their title defense at home against Campbell. The Owls will start their Big South campaign at Gardner-Webb, the squad’s first conference opener on the road since 2017. Monmouth and Kennesaw State, which have won the last three Big South championships and have gone a combined 29-3 in league games since 2017, will go head-to-head in the Nov. 21 regular-season finale for the second time in three seasons.
The Big South, which is 110-79 ( =58.2 percent) against non-conference FCS opponents since 2013 (including playoffs), is coming off another successful season in 2019. The league won two playoff games, had two teams nationally-ranked in the same week, had 19 All-Americans, and has one of the four national finalists for the Walter Payton Award (Monmouth’s Pete Guerriero).
Below is the 2020 composite league schedule, which is subject to change.
2020 Big South Football Conference Schedule
Saturday, Oct. 10
Charleston Southern at Campbell *
Gardner-Webb at Hampton *
Kennesaw State at North Alabama
Saturday, Oct. 17
Campbell at Hampton *
Gardner-Webb at Charleston Southern *
Monmouth at North Alabama
Saturday, Oct. 24
Campbell at Monmouth *
Kennesaw State at Gardner-Webb *
North Alabama at Charleston Southern
Saturday, Oct. 31
Charleston Southern at Monmouth *
Hampton at Kennesaw State *
Gardner-Webb at North Alabama
Saturday, Nov. 7
Kennesaw State at Charleston Southern *
Monmouth at Hampton *
North Alabama at Campbell
Saturday, Nov. 14
Campbell at Kennesaw State *
Monmouth at Gardner-Webb *
Hampton at North Alabama
Saturday, Nov. 21
Gardner-Webb at Campbell *
Charleston Southern at Hampton *
Kennesaw State at Monmouth *
* - Big South game