• Texas Southern caps of its Homecoming weekend with a big SWAC contest versus Southern inside Reliant Stadium at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
• Saturday's contest will feature live audio on KTSU 90.9 FM and will be shown live on SWAC TV.
• Texas Southern will host Southern in Houston for only the fourth time since 2017. The series shifted to the North Texas cities of Dallas and Arlington from 2018-22. This marks the first time since 2014 TSU returns to Reliant Stadium and the first meeting against Southern in the stadium since 2007. Southern was TSU's Homecoming opponent in 2015.
• Southern enters the game off a bye weekend but entered the weekend with a bang after defeating Prairie View A&M on Oct. 10. The SWAC West is muddier than ever now as every team has two-plus losses. SU is led by NFL Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as this marks a face off between two former NFL Pro Bowlers in Faulk and TSU's Cris Dishman.
• Marshall Faulk marks the fifth head coach Texas Southern will face from Southern since 2021.
• SU sophomore Trey Holley has been the team's bright spot with 673 total yards and six touchdowns. He leads the SWAC in rushing while TSU's Athean Renfro ranks fourth with 88.5 yards per game.
• After a month away on the road, TSU starts a home stretch with five of its final six games in Houston.
• TSU quarterback Cam'Ron McCoy spent the 2025 season at Southern University before transferring in the offseason to TSU.
• A trio of TSU offensive starters earned 2026 Preseason All-SWAC Second Team honors in junior tight end Kordell Rodgers, sophomore offensive lineman Jayden Daniels and redshirt junior wideout Roriyon Richardson.
• Despite coming off a winning season for the first time since 2000, TSU was picked to finish fourth in the SWAC West by head coaches and sports information directors in the annual preseason poll. TSU returns six offensive starters and three on defense.
• The Tigers open the season with a new defensive coordinator in Scott Vestal but head coach Cris Dishman stated Monday he'll call the defense starting Saturday.
• This marks the second consecutive year TSU will have six home contests as they played on Week 0 for the first time since 2017. Unlike last year, the caveat to this year's schedule is that TSU will play in multiple locations in the Houston area due to scheduling conflicts with its primary stadium in Shell Energy. TSU will play five games inside Aldine ISD's Thorne Stadium (19 miles from campus) and one at Reliant Stadium (7 miles).
• Cris Dishman is the 19th head coach in the history of Texas Southern Football. Faced with a tough task due to the program's historical nature (29 winning seasons in 79 years of existence), Dishman has set out to reverse the trend after posting a winning record following his second season.
