This weekend marks not only the beginning of the conference season, but also the start of a long anticipated journey for a pair of schools’ Ohio Valley Conference debuts.

Samford and Jacksonville State will both make their conference debut at home against perennial OVC powers Saturday evening.

Samford enters the OVC season as the only team with a record above .500, and after competing to a 37-17 loss to I-A San Diego State (The Bulldogs were tied with the Aztecs at 17 until late in the third quarter) could arguably be considered the early favorite for the OVC championship.

“You look at Samford as a team that will be one to be reckoned with,” Murray State head coach Joe Pannunzio said.

Samford doesn’t consider themselves contenders in the OVC yet, but just feel fortunate to be playing conference games for the first time in school history.

“This university has looked forward to this day for 162 years, but we have too much respect for this league to think we can come in and dominate,” Samford head coach Bill Gray said. “I’ll tell you this though, there are a lot of people waiting to get rolling here in Birmingham.”

The Bulldogs will step into the Seibert Stadium to play the preseason favorite Southeast Missouri Indians who are still trying to lick their wounds from going winless in their non-conference schedule.

“I wouldn’t pick us first now that’s for sure,” SEMO head coach Tim Billings said. “Last year, we put up 35 points per game and this year we’re trying to find the end zone.”

To correct this problem, Billings and the offensive coaches have decided to hand the starting quarterback job back to preseason All-OVC first team selection Jack Tomco. The senior from Anchorage, Alaska has thrown six interceptions and no touchdowns while battling with Jeromy McDowell who has thrown for 453 yards, three interceptions and one touchdown.

“The offensive coordinators said they wanted to go with Jack after watching film and that’s what we’re going to do,” Billings said. “A lot of schools are playing two guys and trying to find one but our problem is neither one is playing real well.”

To further complicate matters for Billings’ squad, they are forced to stay 45 minutes outside of Birmingham because of NASCAR fans acquiring rooms for the EA Sports 500 race in Talladega, Ala. This problem has forced Billings to cancel a walk-through and will experience field conditions for the first time Saturday evening.

“We’ll show up on game day and that’ll be it,” Billings said.

Jacksonville State will make its debut against the oldest member of the OVC in Eastern Kentucky and the Gamecocks head coach Jack Crowe is already feeling the excitement.

“They represent tradition and winning in the OVC and I think our fans will play into that emotion,” Crowe said. “I’ve got 56 players excited and ready to play this game.”

The promotion of this contest has Crowe convinced that moving to the OVC was the best decision for all concerned.

“As long as I’ve been here, we haven’t found where we belong,” Crowe said. “I didn’t know where the promised land was but it wasn’t in Texas that’s for damn sure.”

Colonels head coach Danny Hope brings his troops to Jacksonville, Ala. feeling his team is ready for the conference season.

“When you play a I-A game (Bowling Green), Appalachian State and the defending national champions (Western Kentucky), I feel that we are prepared to face the OVC,” Hope said.

Hope has brought a new wide open offense that involves an aerial attack. This would be considered an evil act under the regime of Hall of Fame coach Roy Kidd.

“I’ve been through this before when Joe Tiller brought us to Purdue where they had Mike Alstott before and ran the ball over left tackle 40 different ways,” Hope said. “The spread offense was a new deal in the Big Ten and now it’s more common everywhere.”

Crowe believes this game will decide a playoff fate for his team.

“To win the Ohio Valley Conference, you must go through Eastern Kentucky and I would pick them as a favorite after seeing them on film,” Crowe said.