Overview: No, the headline that everyone is seeing above as the title of this post is not a misprint. That's because both the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) and the Lone Star Conference (LSC) have decided to join forces for the 2022 season, with the seven squads from the LSC joining the three teams from the GNAC for one combined conference championship coming this fall.
The unlikely merger of these two conferences came about as the result of former member Texas A&M-Commerce (7-4 overall, 5-2 in the LSC in 2021) choosing to make the transition from the NCAA Division II to the NCAA Division I ranks, effective starting with the 2022 season. As a result, just seven football-playing schools will take the field from the LSC this fall.
As for the teams that will make up the newly-combined conferences, the Angelo State University Rams were named the favorite to win the LSC/GNAC crown in 2022. The Rams defeated and eliminated Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Kearney in the first two rounds of the NCAA Division II playoffs before losing a close contest to the Colorado School of Mines in the quarterfinals to close out their season at 11-3 overall.
On the GNAC side of things, the Central Washington University Wildcats swept their fellow conference foes in Simon Fraser and Western Oregon, respectively, to go undefeated in conference play at 4-0, as well as win a conference championship. However, their stay in postseason play was cut short in the first round of the D-II playoffs, as CWU fell to Northwest Missouri State in the first round to finish at 8-3 overall.
Regardless of how long this partnership lasts, expect a tight battle for the top in the new LSC/GNAC circuit this year.
2022 Schedules (Teams listed in alphabetical order, click the links below to access to find the schedules)
NOTE: If the link to the team's schedule is not highlighted, it means that the team has not submitted its schedule for the 2022 season. When the team's schedule is submitted, the link (s) will appear in each blog post. Also, please visit the RFC blog at realfootballcentral.blogspot.com for schedules, schedule updates, preseason previews, and much more.
Angelo State
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