The Florida A&M Rattlers have added the Lincoln (CA) Oaklanders to their 2023 football schedule, according to a report by Kofi Hemmingway.
Hemmingway made the announcement on Wednesday’s edition of The O&G Strike Zone.
Florida A&M will host Lincoln (CA) at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, per the report. The game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
Lincoln University, located in Oakland, Calif., started their football program in 2021 and are reportedly aiming for NCAA Division II classification. To date, Lincoln has played every game on the road.
Lincoln now has five games scheduled against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponents in 2023. In addition to Florida A&M, the Oaklanders are scheduled to play at Lamar on Sept. 23, at Texas Southern on Sept. 30, at Southern on Oct. 14, and at Southern Utah on Nov. 4.
With the addition of Lincoln and several SWAC schedule releases this week, Florida A&M has tentatively completed their slate for the 2023 season. The Rattlers are scheduled to open the season on Sunday, Sept. 3 against Jackson State in the Orange Blossom Classic at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Future Florida A&M Football Schedules
Amazing a school in Oakland, CA wants to go DII. So many Schools in California have discontinued college football starting back in the 1970’s, mostly due to lack of financial support from the California Legislature. 3 private schools UOP, Santa Clara, & St Mary’s also have discontinued college football due to finances. As a private school, Lincoln has a huge financial mountain to climb, and their closest DII game will probably be in Oregon. Tough to get DII schools to travel to California and the Bay Area. Even DIII schools in the LA area are discontinuing college football.
Stan, that’s sad to see so many schools dropping football in California, yet everywhere else schools are adding football. California is just a weird state.
I do agree, I can’t see how Lincoln can make a go of it. If they want to be Division II then why have they scheduled so many Division I-AA schools?
Dave I think Lincoln is just scheduling opponents so they can get $$$ to build up for the future of their program. Funny enough, I’m from the Bay Area, and didn’t even know this university existed until last year. I think they just started their athletics program.
Dave – I left California 25 years ago. One could see the handwriting on the wall regarding the direction California was going to pursue regarding politics and rule by one party. I graduated in the early 70’s from one of the remaining FCS schools in California. Perhaps Lincoln is angling for an ultimate Big Sky invite. Hope they have money connections from alumni, as the political climate in California is not friendly to college football.
Recently a few DIII schools (private) in the LA area have dropped college football due to finances and direction.
Stan, I too went to an FCS school in California, although I’m much younger than you. Growing up, I heard that Pacific, Santa Clara, St. Mary’s, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Fullerton, and Long Beach State all had football teams. Then after reading this thread, I went down the rabbit hole, and found out that even more schools had football programs at one point. Luckily, I don’t think my school is in danger of dropping football anytime soon.
I wonder what FAMU’s payout is? Can’t be more than $200K.
It will be much less than that. Here are two guarantees for Lincoln in 2022:
Texas A&M-Commerce: $22,500
Portland State: $45,000
Evan – You mentioned 3 public schools in California that have disbanded college football in addition to the 3 private schools. Other public schools discontinued are UC Santa Barbarba, UC Riverside – on the university side. State Universities are Chico St, Sonoma St, Cal State San Francisco, Cal State Hayward, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Los Angeles, and within the past couple years Humboldt State University.
I hope my Mustangs bode well with the new coach they just hired.
I officiated HS Basketball with a guy whose father played for Santa Clara and later played pro ball for the 49ners.
Hey! I never thought I would encounter another Cal Poly grad on this website. I grew up down the street from Santa Clara, and heard stories about their program growing up.
Evan – CP has been on some bleak times the past several years. It is difficult to follow them as I currently live on the East Coast. Lots of moving due to work – Food Processing. Actually, I’ve lived and worked in all 4 time zones plus on a South Pacific Island. Got to see Poly play at McNeese St, Texas St. & UTEP. Could have seen them play Old Dominion when OD started up their program plus Troy, but I had scheduling conflicts that had a higher priority.
I like the scheduling aspect of college football and all its nuances. Kevin does a great job with this web site and is up to date almost immediately, even to the unheard-of Lincoln, CA. The major BRANDS have complete control over non-conference scheduling. No central entity in college football controls scheduling like the NFL business plan, plus all conferences have different scheduling business plans specifically for their conference. FBS is the wild west as teams’ control who, when, and where they play non-conference games, and all use it to their advantage.
Ride High you Mustangs!!!!!!!!!
Can you guess who scheduled Lincoln this year…..?
Lincoln comes to Cal Poly on Sept 16th 2023. I’ve been attending Cal Poly football games since I was a small kid in the early 60’s. I used to watch them play UCSB at, the then brand new, UCSB Campus Stadium (now Harder Stadium). Even growing up in SB, my dream was always to go to Cal Poly which I did. Have been a long-time season ticket holder. Good times or bad.., Goooooo…. Mustangs! Ride High!
How can FCS schools add a school to the schedule that isn’t even in a Division II classification or any classification?
No idea. I emailed Lincoln asking for an explanation on their classification and have not received a response. And Lincoln is not listed in the NCAA database of schools.