Hampton Releases 2010 Football Schedule

[stlaggie]

Hampton releases 2010 football schedule
HAMPTON RELEASES 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

1/30/2010 6:16:41 PM

HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University football team, under second-year head coach Donovan Rose, will play an exciting schedule of games next fall that will include four marquee home games and two new opponents.

HU officials released the school’s 2010 football schedule on Saturday, noting that the school has entered into a two-year contract to play Old Dominion University of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and a one-year pact with Central Michigan University of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

“This will be a challenging and exciting schedule for Hampton,” said HU athletics director Lonza Hardy Jr. “Playing ODU fits in well with our goal of playing more NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams in our region. Our vision is to play more CAA teams as well as forging relationships with other conferences, such as the Ivy League, the Atlantic 10 and the Big South. Adding Central Michigan gives our team the chance to step into the Bowl Subdivision arena and showcase our program.”

The Pirates will open the season on Sept. 2, when they head to Mount Pleasant, Mich. to face Central Michigan. From there, Hampton will head to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11 to take on Howard in its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game of the year.

Hampton’s first home game of the season will come on Sept. 18, when the Pirates take on North Carolina A&T at Armstrong Stadium at 6 p.m. as part of Parents’ Weekend, Alumni Day and Military Appreciation Day.

The Pirates will have a bye on Sept. 25.

After a trip to Dover, Del. on Oct. 2 to face Delaware State, the Pirates will head to Durham, N.C. for a non-conference game against North Carolina Central. The Pirates will then return to Armstrong Stadium for the annual Battle of the Bay Classic, held Oct. 16 against Norfolk State at 1 p.m. From there, the Pirates head to Orangeburg, S.C. on Oct. 23 to face defending MEAC champion South Carolina State.

The Pirates will close out October with its second annual Hall of Fame Game, which will be Oct. 30 against second-year program Old Dominion. Kick-off will be 2 p.m. at Armstrong Stadium.

Hampton’s home schedule will conclude on Nov. 6, when the Pirates face Bethune-Cookman for homecoming at 1 p.m. Hampton will close out the season with a pair of road games -- Nov. 13 at Florida A&M and Nov. 20 at Morgan State.

“I think playing Central Michigan is a great opportunity for us to not only play a Bowl Subdivision team, but it also gives us added incentives to work out hard this spring,” said Rose. “It’ll also help us to see where we are as a program and to see how to measure ourselves. The guys and the staff are all excited.

“Playing ODU will be great in that it’ll bring the whole community together,” added Rose. “ODU did a great job of getting its program started back last season. Playing teams like this outside the conference, in addition to our conference opponents, will hopefully help us in taking our program where we want it to be.”

[dbackjon]

Good schedule - I like the scheduling philosphy.

And welcome, STLaggie!