MEAC Football: How the conference plans to rebuild
By Dante Pryor
With Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M joining the SWAC in the fall, the MEAC looks to add teams to bolster its conference profile.
The MEAC football conference has experienced some tumult in the last five years. Since 2017, five schools have left the league. Savannah State moved up to Division I and the MEAC in 1998, only to move back down to Division II in 2017.
The Big South Conference took Hampton University in 2018 and North Carolina A&T in 2020. This fall Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M officially moved to the SWAC.
The move of the Florida schools to the SWAC make the other HBCU-only conference a super conference with 12 teams.
This fall, the SWAC realigns with Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M moving to the East division. Alcorn State moves west, creating two six-team divisions.
Where does this leave the MEAC? With B-CU, NCA&T, and FAMU leaving this fall, the MEAC is down to eight schools.
It remains to be seen if the conference is going to keep divisions eliminate them. Instead, they could copy the Big 12 round-robin model in football where everyone plays everyone else and the top two play for the conference title.
Most likely, the MEAC will look to the lower levels (Division II) to invite programs to join the conference. Are there other options for the conference? Here is more insight on the MEAC, the exodus, and conference realignment.