The OVC-Big South Football Association has announced its league schedule for the 2025 season.
The third year of the Association features nine league teams each playing an eight-game conference schedule. The league slate starts Saturday, September 13, and Association games will primarily take place between Weeks 5 and 13.
The opening league contest will be Saturday, September 13 with Charleston Southern hosting Lindenwood. Two weeks later, the four teams that shared the 2024 league crown – Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin – will each open defense of their titles. UT Martin will host Southeast Missouri while Tennessee State entertains Tennessee Tech.
Below is the 2025 composite OVC-Big South schedule, which is subject to change.
Saturday, September 13
Lindenwood at Charleston Southern
Saturday, September 27
Eastern Illinois at Western Illinois
Southeast Missouri at UT Martin
Tennessee Tech at Tennessee State
Saturday, October 4
Charleston Southern at Gardner-Webb
Tennessee State at Eastern Illinois
UT Martin at Lindenwood
Western Illinois at Tennessee Tech
Saturday, October 11
Tennessee Tech at Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb at Eastern Illinois
Tennessee State at Southeast Missouri
Western Illinois at UT Martin
Saturday, October 18
Charleston Southern at Western Illinois
Eastern Illinois at Southeast Missouri
UT Martin at Gardner-Webb
Tennessee Tech at Lindenwood
Saturday, October 25
Eastern Illinois at Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb at Lindenwood
Southeast Missouri at Tennessee Tech
Western Illinois at Tennessee State
Saturday, November 1
Charleston Southern at Southeast Missouri
UT Martin at Eastern Illinois
Gardner-Webb at Tennessee Tech
Lindenwood at Tennessee State
Saturday, November 8
Tennessee Tech at Eastern Illinois
Southeast Missouri at Gardner-Webb
Lindenwood at Western Illinois
Tennessee State at UT Martin
Saturday, November 15
Charleston Southern at UT Martin
Eastern Illinois at Lindenwood
Gardner-Webb at Tennessee State
Southeast Missouri at Western Illinois
Saturday, November 22
Tennessee State at Charleston Southern
Western Illinois at Gardner-Webb
Lindenwood at Southeast Missouri
UT Martin at Tennessee Tech
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), Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville, TN), University of Tennessee at Martin (Martin, TN) and Western Illinois University (Macomb, IL).