Murray State University will become the 12th football member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2023. The Racers announced their intention to leave the Ohio Valley Conference for the Missouri Valley Conference in January 2022 but did not announce a new football conference at the time (the MVC and MVFC are not the same conferences).
Murray State will join the MVC for the 2022-23 academic season while keeping its football program in the OVC for the 2022 season. Murray State will join the FCS’ best football conference over the last decade – a conference that includes perennial FCS Championship winner North Dakota State.
Murray State will have its work cut out when it moves to the MVFC. The Racers haven’t won a conference title since 2002 when they were co-champions of the OVC with Eastern Illinois. 2002 was also the last time Murray State has made an FCS Playoff appearance. While it sounds difficult for Murray State, they did post back-to-back winning seasons in the spring 2021 and fall 2021 campaigns, which was the first time since 2010 and 2011. Furthermore, current head coach Dan Hood made 3 FCS Playoff appearances in 8 seasons at Eastern Kentucky between 2008 and 2015.
Murray State is set to kick off its final season in the OVC against Texas Tech on Saturday, September 3, 2022.
Photo courtesy of Murray State University Athletics.
Related posts:
FCS Changes for the 2023 Season
Western Illinois Joining OVC in 2023-24; Football to Play 2023 Season in MVFC
Austin Peay Leaving OVC For ASUN
OVC and Big South Announce Football Scheduling Agreement; Lindenwood to Join OVC
FCS Changes for the 2022 Season
Robert Morris Football Returning to Northeast Conference