BRENTWOOD, TENN. - The OVC-Big South Football Association has announced its league schedule for the 2026 season.   

The fourth year of the Association features eight league teams each playing a seven-game conference schedule.

The first week of the season will see a League matchup when Charleston Southern travels to Lindenwood on August 27. The rest of the action begins on October 3 and goes until the final week of the regular season on November 21.

A few weeks later, the Lions will welcome Southeast Missouri State for the fifth installment of the Game Ball Brawl on October 10. Lindenwood defeated the Redhawks, 30-13 this past season in Cape Girardeau.

The following week, the Lions will head to Charleston, Ill. for a matchup against Eastern Illinois on October 17. Lindenwood will close out October by hosting Tennessee State on October 31.

The Lions will have three Association matchups in November, beginning with a road game against Gardner-Webb on November 7, followed by another road matchup against UT Martin on November 14. Lindenwood will conclude the conference slate at home against Western Illinois on November 21.

Lindenwood finished last season with a 6-6 record, including its best finish in Association play, compiling a 5-3 record.

ABOUT THE OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE-BIG SOUTH ASSOCIATION
In February 2022, the Ohio Valley Conference and the Big South Conference announced the creation of an association of their football member institutions, which began in the 2023 NCAA Division I football season and has an initial term of at least four years. In June 2024 the Presidents and Chancellors solidified their commitment to each other with a new enhanced agreement that will provide an opportunity to extend the original partnership through 2030 and beyond.

This agreement, which strengthens the structure between the FCS-committed institutions, is intended to provide all members' access to the automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Playoffs, long-term stability, and a competitive league schedule. In creating the association, presidents from each of the multisport conferences pointed to the similarities of the OVC and the Big South, with their complementary geographies and intercollegiate athletic philosophies, as key to making this association possible.

Schools comprising the Association are Charleston Southern University (Charleston, SC), Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, IL), Gardner-Webb University (Boiling Springs, NC), Lindenwood University (St. Charles, MO), Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau, MO), Tennessee State University (Nashville, TN), University of Tennessee at Martin (Martin, TN) and Western Illinois University (Macomb, IL).