The Florida A&M Rattlers have added the West Florida Argonauts to their 2023 football schedule, according to an announcement by UWF.
Florida A&M will host West Florida at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. The game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
The University of West Florida is a public university located in Pensacola, Fla., which is about 191 miles from Tallahassee. The Argonauts, members of the Gulf South Conference in Division II, have never faced an in-state Division I team in football.
West Florida is the second known non-conference opponent for the Florida A&M Rattlers in 2023. Florida A&M is also scheduled to travel to take on the USF Bulls in Tampa, Fla., on Saturday, Sept. 9, one week before they host West Florida in Tallahassee.
Florida A&M was previously scheduled to host the South Carolina State Bulldogs on Oct. 7, 2023. However, South Carolina State has now scheduled a home contest on that same date against the Virginia-Lynchburg Dragons.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) schedule for Florida A&M has not yet been announced. The Rattlers do know they will host Jackson State in the Orange Blossom Classic in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Sunday, Sept. 3.
Based on last season’s schedule, the Rattlers should host Alabama State in Tallahassee and travel to play Alabama A&M and Mississippi Valley State. FAMU will also take on Bethune-Cookman in the annual Florida Blue Florida Classic in Orlando, Fla.
Florida A&M’s three opponents from the SWAC West will be announced at a later date.
Future Florida A&M Football Schedules
UWF won the Div II championship a few years ago. They’re one of those schools that will likely be FCS before long with Florida’s continued population growth.
I’m now wondering how long it’ll be before West Florida jumps to the FCS.
I have a running list of FCS teams that still need non-conference games for 2023. FA&M is now crossed off that list. By my count, there are 43 FCS schools that have openings for next year. 25 schools need 1 game, 16 need 2, Kennesaw State needs 3, and Georgetown needs 4. If you add up all the games remaining that FCS teams need, it comes out to 64, meaning there are still at least 32 matchups left on the board.
These numbers do not include Southern Miss’s alleged matchup vs Alcorn State and Tulane’s alleged matchup vs Nicholls State.
There are 2 FBS teams that need 1 game for 2023: Baylor and ULL. Since ULL has already scheduled an FCS team, it’s likely they schedule Baylor, or perhaps they try to get a game against a team that plays at Hawai’i if Baylor schedules an FCS team.
We have FAMU with USF and West Florida. Who do you have as the third?
Oh, I though their game against Jackson State was a non-conference game, as I will still thinking FA&M was in the MEAC. My bad.
Got it. SWAC teams do sometimes play non-conference games against one another though.