South Alabama Football Announces First Division-I Foes And Travel Packages For 2010
Earlier this month South Alabama announced the school’s first two Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS or formerly Division-I) opponents. In the 2011 season, the Jags will play North Carolina State and Kent State on back to back weekends on September 17 and 24. Both games will be away games as part of a 2-for-1 series with both schools.
The 2011 schedule will have six other Division-I schools, four of which will be visiting Mobile. Lamar and UC Davis will complete their home-and-home contracts with Lamar visiting on September 10 and UC Davis visiting on October 1. Tennessee-Martin will visit on October 15 and Cal Poly will be the final game of the season on November 19.
Head coach Joey Jones had the following to say about how the future schedules affect South Alabama. “We feel like this is a great step forward for where we want to go. Obviously, playing all of these Division I schools on the schedule in our third year will present a challenge. In the grand scheme of things, it’s about where we are going and preparing for a schedule that will feature pretty much all FBS opponents the following year.”
He continued, “Each year we want to step up the level of competition on our schedule – our kids and staff want to be challenged. Certainly we will have some bumps along the way playing teams at this level, but it’s where we want to be and where this program is headed.”
As for the 2010 schedule, the Jags will have seven home games and the Athletic Department announced that all six of the Saturday home games will have 4pm kickoffs. While the lone Thursday night game will be the season finale against Arkansas-Monticello on November 11 with a 6pm kickoff.
The Jags will have their first road games ever this season and travel packages are available for those games. On September 25 the Jags travel to Dothan for their first ever away game when they play Edward Waters in the Wiregrass Football Classic. A game ticket and tailgating will cost $35 while a $78 package which includes travel to and from the game is also available.
The away game against Lamar on October 16 has a three day package including round-trip transportation from the USA Campus is available. It features two nights at the MCM Elegante Hotel and Convention Center with a reception and several other goodies for $75 up to $475 depending on the costs of the ticket, number of paying travelers and amount of people in the hotel room.
A three day trip has also been put together for the UC Davis game on October 23. It includes a two night stay in the Embassy Suites Riverfront Promenade and more. The cost is $260-$375 not including air fare.
Jaguars Announce Two New Additions To Future Schedules
The University of South Alabama announced two additions to future football schedules on Thursday. Joe Gottfried, South Alabama’s Athletic Director, announced details of three-game contracts with Kent State and Mississippi State. The Jags will play in Starkville September 12, 2012 and September 10, 2016 in addition to hosting the Bulldogs in Mobile on September 13, 2014.
Coach Jones was quoted saying, “To be able to bring Mississippi State to Mobile is a great plus for our program. These two-for-one contracts are very important early on as we continue to build for the future. I’ll never forget when Missouri visited Troy a few years ago, that was a big deal when they went down there. Any time you can do that you’re advancing your program, and that’s where we’re going.”
Joe Gottfried added, “With the contractual agreement with Mississippi State to play in Mobile, we are clearly sending a message to the community that we are committed to football and to provide our fans an opportunity to see the Jags play teams like MSU, North Carolina State, Navy and others.”
South Alabama will travel to Ohio to play Kent State on September 1, 2011 and September 6, 2014. Kent State will travel to Mobile to face the Jaguars in their first season in Division I-A, also known as the Football Bowl Subdivision, on October 19, 2013 as well. The 2013 season will be the first season that the Jaguars will compete in the Sun Belt Conference and also will be eligible for a bowl game. USA also has previously announced that they will be playing Tennessee in Knoxville and begin a four-game home-and-home series with Navy in 2013. Also the Jags will play a three game series with North Carolina State, two in North Carolina and one game in Mobile.
The Jaguars will take the field for their first game on Saturday, September 5, 2009 to face Hargrave Military Academy at 4pm. Get your tickets now for this historic event.
GO JAGS!
