MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama football team will be able to test itself on numerous occasions against three other schools that are just starting their program with Friday's announcement of future opponents.
The Jaguars will play home-and-home series against Georgia State, Lamar and Texas-San Antonio over the next three seasons, with two of those contracts set to begin in 2010.
Lamar - which dropped football in 1989, but will return to the field in '10 - will be the first of the trio to take on USA, with the Jags slated to visit the Cardinals on Oct. 16, 2010, before LU returns the trip with a Sept. 10 contest in Mobile the following fall. That game will be the first at home for the Jaguars as they begin the two-year transition to the NCAA Division I-A/Football Bowl Subdivision level in 2011.
USA will also take on GSU those two seasons, with the first meeting set to take place in Mobile on Oct. 30 and the return game scheduled for Oct. 22, 2011, in Atlanta. The Panthers announced the start of their program in April 2008 but will not play a game until the fall of 2010, and they will play their home contests at the Georgia Dome. Bill Curry, who has guided the programs at Alabama, Georgia Tech and Kentucky during his career, is GSU's head coach.
UTSA, which announced in December 2008 that it will begin playing football in the fall of 2011, is on the Jaguars' '11 and '12 schedules. The Jags will face the Roadrunners in San Antonio on Oct. 11 in the initial match-up between the two schools, with UTSA serving as USA's season opener on Sept. 1 the following year. Former Miami (Fla.) head coach Larry Coker was hired to lead the program last March.
"We felt like playing schools the first couple of years in the same boat we are starting a brand new football program would be a great thing," stated Jag head coach Joey Jones. "With Bill Curry coaching at Georgia State and Larry Coker at UT-San Antonio, I believe they will bring us some credibility with the type of programs they are going to run. We're very excited about playing against those teams.
"As we move on with scheduling hopefully we will continue to play schools like these that will grow with us, maybe they can develop into rivalries."
With the announcement, the Jaguars have two contests set in 2010, five games scheduled in 2011 and three in '12. USA already has contracts to play Navy four times, Mississippi State, North Carolina State and Kent State on three occasions and Tennessee in 2013 as well.
The Jags will be eligible to compete for the Sun Belt Conference championship and play in a bowl game for the first time in '13.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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