MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football program will have a pair of nationally-televised home contests on the ESPN family of networks in the fall as part of its 2015 Sun Belt Conference schedule that was announced Friday.

The Jaguars will play host to Arkansas State on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. (CDT) in the first of two league games on ESPN2, and will face Louisiana-Lafayette in a match-up that will be carried by ESPNU on Thursday, Nov. 12 as well.

"Obviously we're very excited about this opportunity for a young football program like ours," stated head coach Joey Jones, who has guided the Jaguars since the program's inception.  "We're honored to be selected to play in games like this on national television.  Needless to say, our staff, student-athletes and everybody involved with the football organization is extremely happy."

"National exposure in a prime-time broadcasting slot on a popular outlet such as the ESPN family of networks is an opportunity of which the benefits are hard to completely measure," added USA Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Erdmann.  "The visibility and profile of the football program, the University, the City of Mobile and the region we serve all benefit from these occurrences."

In addition to facing Idaho and Appalachian State at home in league contests on Nov. 7 and Dec. 5, respectively, the Jags will take on Troy (Oct. 3), Texas State (Oct. 24), Georgia State (Nov. 21) and Georgia Southern (Nov. 28) on the road.  It will be the second time in four seasons that USA will open Sun Belt play against the Trojans, while it marks the second time in three years that the Jaguars will wrap up the campaign at home the opening weekend of December.

USA's non-conference schedule, which was completed last month, features home games with Gardner-Webb to open the season on Sept. 5 and a Sept. 26 match-up against North Carolina State the week prior to the start of league action.  In between, the Jaguars will travel to take on Nebraska and San Diego State on Sept. 12 and 19, respectively.

"Honestly, I probably prefer the schedule set up last year a little more," Jones commented.  "We're still going to play eight straight conference games, but I liked having the non-conference games split up with two at the start and two at the end.  But the balance of the Sun Belt schedule is good, I don't see a lot of travel problems like last year when we had two real long trips in a row at Idaho and Appalachian State, so it looks as if it will work out pretty well."

The Jaguars will face five squads that participated in a bowl last season as well as the five schools that finished tied with or ahead of them in the SBC standings.  In all, eight of USA's 12 opponents posted a winning record during the 2014 campaign, including three — Georgia Southern, Louisiana-Lafayette and Nebraska — who earned nine victories.

"We are fortunate to have an ACC program and three Sun Belt teams who were in the hunt for the 2014 championship coming to our city, on our turf and in front of our fans," Erdmann observed.  "We encourage people to invest in our burgeoning football program through purchasing season tickets and attending these great college football games."

All home games, both conference and non-conference, will be aired on an ESPN Platform for the third year in a row.  Network designations for contests in the first three weeks of the season will be made by June 1, while the rest of the season that determination won't be finalized until 12 days out from the match-up.

Game times will be released at a later date as well.

The Jaguars became the fastest NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision program to participate in a bowl game last year, accomplishing the feat in just their second season at the level, after earning an invitation to the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.  USA posted six victories and recorded a winning mark in league action during both the 2013 and '14 campaigns.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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