RFC Summer Semester: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Preview (NCAA Division III)

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2012 Final Standings

Looking back: Only two teams that are current members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), Austin and Trinity (Tex.) actually took the field in 2012.  Of those two squads, the Tigers finished a respectable, while the Kangaroos finished a dismal 2-8.

Looking ahead:  After many of the former SCAC members left to form the Southern Athletic Association (SAA), teams such as Austin and Trinity were forced to play as independents last season.  This season, though, the SCAC will have two new members for football, with Texas Lutheran joining the league from the American Southwest Conference (ASC), while Southwestern University out of Georgetown, Texas will take the field for their football season since 1950.

Predicted order of finish (2012 overall record in parentheses)

1. Trinity (Tex.)--(7-3):  Really a no-brainer here. With just one losing season (4-6 in 2010) dating back to 1993, the Tigers should be favored to win the new-look SCAC.  They'll prepare for that conference stretch run by squaring off against the likes of Case Western Reserve, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Millsaps.

2. Texas Lutheran (4-6):  After starting the 2012 season 3-1, things unraveled rapidly for the Bulldogs, losing five straight games before hammering Howard Payne, 47-6, in the season finale.  If that wasn't enough, four of those losses came by seven points or less, with one contest going into overtime, while another game reached double overtime.  If the Bulldogs are to be successful in their inaugural SCAC season, they must learn how to win the close games that eluded them.  Still, the strangest part of the 2013 schedule is that the Bulldogs will play all three of their conference games within the first five weeks of the season.

3. Austin (2-8):  The Kangaroos will look to move forward after a rough 2012 campaign.

4. Southwestern (Tex.)--(n/a):  The Pirates face a rough maiden voyage in their first football season in 63 years.  Their longest road trip of the 2013 season is the season finale at Southern Virginia on November 16.

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