Overview: Thanks to the constantly changing nature of conference realignment in college sports, two FCS programs must adjust to not playing in a conference, possibly for the foreseeable future.
Those two programs are the Merrimack College Warriors from North Andover, Massachusetts, and the Sacred Heart University Pioneers from Fairfield, Connecticut. Both schools' football teams left the Northeast Conference because the athletics officials decided to join the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for all sports except football. The MAAC sponsored football from 1993 to 2007.
As a result of those moves, the Warriors and Pioneers' respective football teams will play as independents, starting in 2024 and possibly beyond. As for 2023, Merrimack finished at 5-6 overall and 4-3 in NEC play, while Sacred Heart struggled significantly at 2-9 overall and 2-5 in the NEC.
Without a conference to fall back on, both teams must win as many games as possible to earn an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs this season. Merrimack's only postseason appearance came in 2006, where they finished 1-1 all-time in the NCAA Division II playoffs, while Sacred Heart holds a 0-4 all-time mark in the FCS playoffs, advancing in 2013, 2014, 2020 (spring 2021) and 2021 (fall 2021).
NOTE: If the link to the team's schedule is not linked, the team failed to submit its schedule for the 2024 season. Once 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 more.
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