The St. Thomas Tommies have announced their fall 2021 football schedule, which is their first at the Division I level.

St. Thomas officially moves up to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) from Division III and will compete as a member of the Pioneer Football League (PFL).

“Most people don’t understand how difficult it is to put together a comprehensive Division I schedule in such a short period of time, I’m very proud of our efforts to do so,” St. Thomas head coach Glenn Caruso said. “At this level, many people are scheduling out for in five years, so to pull something together with this type of national recognition and regional exposure is a huge tip of the hat to Phil Esten and our administrative team.

“As I’ve said before, we’ll never shy away from competition, and this schedule personifies that. Much like when we arrived here 13 years ago, we felt strongly that we had to have an understanding of where we stand as a program in relation to the established programs in order for us to be able to set the vision for where we are going.”

St. Thomas opens the 2021 season with three consecutive non-conference contests, beginning on Saturday, Sept. 4 at home at O’Shaughnessy Stadium in Saint Paul, Minn., against St. Francis (IL). The Tommies then travel to take on Michigan Tech on Sept. 11 and Northern Iowa on Sept. 18.

Pioneer Football League action for St. Thomas kicks off on Sept. 25 at home against Butler. The Tommies will also host Valparaiso (Oct. 9), Marist (Oct. 30), and Presbyterian (Nov. 20).

Road PFL opponents on the schedule for St. Thomas include San Diego (Oct. 2), Stetson (Oct. 16), Davidson (Nov. 6), and Drake (Nov. 13).

Below is St. Thomas’s complete schedule for the fall 2021 season, plus a link to their schedule page which will be updated with kickoff times and TV as they are announced:

2021 St. Thomas Football Schedule

• 09/04 – St. Francis (IL)
• 09/11 – at Michigan Tech
• 09/18 – at Northern Iowa
• 09/25 – Butler*
• 10/02 – at San Diego*
• 10/09 – Valparaiso*
• 10/16 – at Stetson*
• 10/23 – OFF
• 10/30 – Marist*
• 11/06 – at Davidson*
• 11/13 – at Drake*
• 11/20 – Presbyterian*

* PFL contest.

St. Thomas competed in the NCAA Division III playoffs in eight of the last 11 seasons played. The Tommies also won seven Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) championships in the past 10 seasons.