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. The rest of the action begins on October 3 and goes until the final week of the regular season on November 21.
Below is the 2026 composite OVC-Big South schedule, which is subject to change.
Thursday, August 27
Charleston Southern at Lindenwood
Saturday, October 3
Gardner-Webb at Charleston Southern
Tennessee State at Western Illinois
Saturday, October 10
Eastern Illinois at Gardner-Webb
Southeast Missouri at Lindenwood
UT Martin at Tennessee State
Saturday, October 17
Lindenwood at Eastern Illinois
Gardner-Webb at UT Martin
Western Illinois at Southeast Missouri
Saturday, October 24
Charleston Southern at Tennessee State
Southeast Missouri at Eastern Illinois
UT Martin at Western Illinois
Saturday, October 31
Western Illinois at Charleston Southern
Eastern Illinois at UT Martin
Gardner-Webb at Southeast Missouri
Tennessee State at Lindenwood
Saturday, November 7
UT Martin at Charleston Southern
Western Illinois at Eastern Illinois
Lindenwood at Gardner-Webb
Southeast Missouri at Tennessee State
Saturday, November 14
Southeast Missouri at Charleston Southern
Eastern Illinois at Tennessee State
Gardner-Webb at Western Illinois
Lindenwood at UT Martin
Saturday, November 21
Charleston Southern at Eastern Illinois
Tennessee State at Gardner-Webb
Western Illinois at Lindenwood
UT Martin at Southeast Missouri
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).