Saluki Football will begin home-and-home series at Samford in 2026

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Saluki Football has agreed to a new home-and-home series versus Samford, director of athletics Tim Leonard confirmed on Tuesday.

The Salukis will begin the series next fall at Samford, which is located in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, September 3. The Bulldogs, who are FCS members of the Southern Conference, will return the game to Carbondale in 2027.

Located three hours south of Nashville, Samford’s 6,700-seat Pete Hanna Stadium is about a six-hour drive from Carbondale.

Samford is coming off a 1-11 season, and last week hired Clemson assistant Sam Grass as its new head coach. Previously, Grass was the head coach at Jacksonville State (2014-21), where he posted a 72-26 record and won six Ohio Valley Conference titles.

The Bulldogs have made four playoff appearances in the last 12 years, most recently advancing to the quarterfinals in 2022, where they lost at North Dakota State, 27-9. Well-known Samford alumni include Bobby Bowden, Jimbo Fisher and Devlin Hodges, a quarterback who won the Payton Award in 2018 and played three seasons in the NFL.

The Salukis have never played any of the current members of the Southern Conference in a regular-season game. In fact, the only meeting between SIU and a member of the league was the 1983 I-AA National Championship game, when the Salukis beat Western Carolina, 43-7.

Southern still has one date left to fill on its 2026 schedule. Leonard said he is looking for an opponent to open at home on Thursday, Aug. 27.

2026 Schedule

Aug. 27: TBA

Sept. 3: at Samford

Sept. 12: SEMO

Sept. 19: at Illinois

Oct. 3: at North Dakota State

Oct. 10: Youngstown State

Oct. 17: Illinois State

Oct. 24: at Indiana State

Oct. 31: North Dakota

Nov. 7: at South Dakota

Nov. 14: Murray State

Nov. 21: at Northern Iowa