NEW ORLEANS – The University of South Alabama's 2022 football schedule, released by the Sun Belt Conference office on Tuesday, includes a home midweek game against Troy for the Annual Battle for the Belt, as well as league games against first-year conference members Southern Mississippi and Old Dominion to end the regular season.

"Overall, I'm excited about our schedule. It always feels like Christmas morning when you get a schedule and see your upcoming season," head coach Kane Wommack said. "It's such an important piece of what we do, because those 12 opportunities define who we are as a program for that given year. All the work that we're putting in now has a face and a date and that's really exciting to see who we match up against and at what time of the year we're going to match up against those teams."

The full slate features two road match-ups versus teams that either won their bowl game, a trip to take on a Pac 12 opponent in the historic Rose Bowl, as well as six games at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The Sun Belt Conference's broadcast schedule will be released at a later date.

South will open the 2022 slate at Hancock Whitney on Saturday, Sept. 3 when Nicholls State, marking the Colonels' first trip to Mobile since the 2016 season; the Jaguars defeated Nicholls, 41-40 in overtime in that outing.  South will then travel to both the Northern and Western parts of the country with road games at Central Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 10 and at UCLA on Saturday, Sept. 17 in Pasadena, Calif. CMU was a 24-21 winner over Washington State last season in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. UCLA was supposed to have faced North Carolina State in the Holiday Bowl, but the game was cancelled. USA will then return home to close out the opening month of the season on Saturday, Sept. 24 against Louisiana Tech.

"I think on the early part of the season, within the first five games, we play a couple of teams that have won their bowl games, including the defending Sun Belt Conference champion [Louisiana] from our side of the league," Wommack added. "I think going back-to-back road games against Central Michigan and then at UCLA will be a tough challenge just in terms of the distance we have to travel and that is not something we have done yet since I have been the head coach. We're excited about that challenge, but we need to be smart in how we prepare for those two games and give our players the best chance to win."

With the addition of the four new teams in the league, South Alabama will play four teams from the West Division, and a pair from the East this fall.  All four of the Jags' Sun Belt games in October will be against divisional opponents, beginning with a trip to defending conference champion Louisiana on Saturday, Oct. 1. Last season, the Ragin' Cajuns posted an unblemished 8-0 record in the Sun Belt and were 13-1 overall closing out the season with a 36-21 victory over Marshall in the New Orleans Bowl and finished inside the top 20.

Following a bye week, USA will return to Hancock Whitney for home games against ULM on Saturday, Oct. 15 and Troy on Thursday, Oct. 20 in the annual "Battle For The Belt". South Alabama will travel to Arkansas State Oct. 29 to close out the month.

"We're so proud of our new stadium and to be able to feature that against our rival on a Thursday night game, is a really exciting opportunity for our program. The Battle of the Belt means so much to our program and Troy's program."

The final month of the regular season will see Nov. 5 game at Georgia Southern, while the Jags will then return home to welcome Texas State on Saturday, Nov. 12. The last road contest of the 2022 campaign is set for Nov. 19 in Hattiesburg, Miss., against the Golden Eagles, while South will play host to first-year league member Old Dominion on Nov. 26. The Monarchs participated in the Myrtle Beach Bowl last fall.

"When you look at the end of the season, people remember what you do in November and those last four or five games are always a challenge to win on the road, especially in a very tough league," Wommack said. "We have to be ready for that challenge, to be able to operate [on the road]. You look at our season last year, we did not play well enough on the road. That's a big focus for us as we move into next year, regardless of where we are, making sure we maximize those 12 opportunities that we're guaranteed during the season."

The league's East and West Division champions will meet on Saturday, Dec. 3, in the 2022 Hercules Tire Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, with the contest set to take place on the campus of one of the participants.

All kickoff times and television information will be announced in the future.  Season tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased by visiting usajaguars.com/tickets.

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

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

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