The McNeese Cowboys and Northern Arizona Lumberjacks have scheduled a home-and-home football series for the 2028 and 2029 seasons, both schools announced Thursday.
In the first game of the series, McNeese will host Northern Arizona at Navarre Stadium in Lake Charles, La., on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2028. The following season, the Cowboys will travel to face the Lumberjacks at Findlay Toyota Field at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2029.
The second game of the series will be played in what is currently referred to as Week Zero, which will become the first available playing week for all Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) schools next season. That change was made to allow FCS schools to play a maximum of 12 games every year.
McNeese is a member of the Southland Conference (SLC), while Northern Arizona competes in the Big Sky Conference. In the only previous meeting between the two programs, Northern Arizona upset top-ranked and top-seeded McNeese, 35-3, in the first round of the 2003 Division I-AA Playoffs in Lake Charles.
Northern Arizona is the first scheduled non-conference opponent for McNeese in 2028.
In 2029, McNeese is also scheduled to visit the LSU Tigers on a date to be determined that season. McNeese lists the LSU game on its official website as Sept. 8, but LSU is currently scheduled to host Arizona State on the same date.
McNeese was previously scheduled to play a home-and-home series with the South Dakota Coyotes in 2027 and 2028, but the series has been removed from McNeese’s website.
Northern Arizona’s non-conference slate for both the 2028 and 2029 seasons now includes two games each. The Lumberjacks will make an in-state visit to face the Arizona State Sun Devils in both seasons, with the games set for Sept. 2, 2028 and Sept. 1, 2029.
Football Schedules
That sounds like fun. Go NAU!
It probably means that the Arizona State series is getting cancelled or postponed due to the 9-game SEC schedule.
Sure but there’s nothing concrete yet. That series has been postponed several times and was scheduled maybe 15 years ago (off the top of my head).