PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University football program fresh off its first conference championship in school history will be put to the test early and often over the first two weeks of 2024 as the Wildcats will play a pair of road contests against an NAIA top-15 opponent as well as an NCAA Division I (FCS) squad.
Head Coach Drew Maddox and the Gridiron Cats open the year by traveling all the way to the bottom of the Sunshine State for a date with the St. Thomas (Florida) Bobcats in Miami Gardens on September 7. This should be a compelling top-25 matchup and potential national game of the week candidate as STU entered the Football Championship Series at #15, then won a playoff game before being ousted by the eventual national champions (Keiser) while LCU gave Baker (Kansas) a 40-minute fight in its first-round exit.
The Orange and Blue will hope to fare better than Arkansas Baptist did last year when they make the short drive over to H-Town on September 14 to play Houston Christian University, who went 6-5 out of the Southland Conference in 2023.
Next, LCU gets to celebrate its home opener versus the Langston Lions on September 21, an opponent the Cats have yet to lose to in three previous tries.
The guys return to the road for the third time in the four weeks of September and it will be its longest distance in miles for a Sooner Athletic Conference contest at Wayland Baptist in Plainview, located in the stovepipe of Texas.
The men from CenLa host Oklahoma Panhandle State for the first time since 2021 to kickoff October, spending back-to-back campaigns in Goodwell before welcoming the Aggies back to "The Boot".
October 12 and October 19 will see Louisiana Christian battle its Lone Star State rivals in consecutive weekends, bussing to Stafford, Texas to take on North American during the former date and hosting the Steers from Texas College on the latter.
Similar to Panhandle State, Ottawa (Arizona) finally makes its return visit to Wildcat Field on October 26 after two years dueling in the desert, where Coach Maddox's men will try to knock off the Spirit for the first time and avenge its lone regular season defeat from 2023.
After that, the destinations will be Waxahachie, Texas at SAGU (November 2) and Little Rock, Arkansas at Arkansas Baptist (November 9) to close out the matchups away from campus
Lastly, the 2023 defacto SAC Championship Game could have similar stakes this fall with the location being right here in Pineville when Texas Wesleyan arrives for the regular season finale on November 16 as the two teams figure to duke it out atop the league standings and are both eyeing another berth in the NAIA Football Championship Series.
To view the 2024 football schedule in its entirety, click here.
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Follow the Wildcats on Facebook (@LCUAthletics), Twitter/X (@LCU_Wildcats) and Instagram (@LCU_Wildcats).
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