BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced its league football schedule for the 2021 season Monday. In 2021, OVC football-playing members will play six Conference games in a round-robin format as part of the official OVC schedule.

Furthermore, OVC Directors of Athletics agreed to schedule additional games against OVC opponents outside the structure of the Conference schedule as a way to play competitive games within the region. These designated matchups against OVC opponents will not count in the Conference standings. The dates of these matchups will be announced by the individual member schools as part of their full schedule release.
 
In developing this scheduling option, the Directors of Athletics worked together to ensure the unique scheduling needs of each program were addressed.
 
Southeast Missouri will kick off its 2021 OVC slate at home against Tennessee State on Sept. 25. Murray State (Oct. 16), Eastern Illinois (Oct. 30) and UT Martin (Nov. 20) also come to Cape Girardeau, although the home game with Murray State will not count in the Conference standings.
 
The away portion of the Redhawks schedule includes trips to Tennessee Tech (Oct. 2), Austin Peay (Oct. 9), UT Martin (Oct. 23) and Murray State (Nov. 13). The road game at UT Martin is designated as SEMO's other matchup that will not count in the OVC standings.
 
The 2021 campaign will mark the 74th football season for the OVC. Over the previous 73 years, 15 of 18 teams that have competed have claimed at least one league championship.
 
"This scheduling effort epitomized the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that exists among the OVC members," said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. "As a by-product of this effort, we believe we will enhance the sense of rivalry in the Conference and provide us with opportunities to showcase our outstanding level of competition."