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SALT LAKE CITY — After Friday's announcement of its move to Division I beginning in 2020, Dixie State wasted no time in starting to piece together a future football schedule.
Dixie State announced a three-game series on Friday with Southern Utah that will begin Sept. 5, 2020, marking the school's first football game as a Division-I competitor. The series with SUU will continue in the 2022 and 2024 seasons.
On Tuesday, Dixie State's Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Jason Boothe, announced two more football series with additional members of the Big Sky Conference — Weber State and Northern Arizona.
The Trailblazers and the Wildcats will begin a three-game series in Ogden on Oct. 10, 2020, and will continue in St. George in 2021, and again in Ogden in 2022 (exact dates to be announced at a later date). Dixie State and Weber State have met just once on the gridiron since the school first became a four year school in 1999, with Weber State winning 44-7 in 2008.
Dixie State and NAU agreed to a six-game series where the teams will play each year from 2023-2028 at alternating locations. The first game of the series will take place in Flagstaff (exact dates to be announced at a later date). Dixie State and NAU last met in 2006, with the Lumberjacks winning 66-14
Boothe said he looks forward to the opportunity to play bigger named, in-state schools, like SUU and Weber State.
"With our move to Division I, it is critical that we play our fellow regional institutions to create the rivalries that our fans want to see," Boothe said in a statement. "It is going to be a lot of fun to compete with these fantastic programs and we are very thankful that each school has agreed to play both at their place and here in St. George."
While Boothe and the school are excited for the opportunity to participate as a D1 college football program, they understand that being an independent school will bring challenges.
"Scheduling will be an annual challenge without a conference, but one that has been thoroughly investigated," the university said in a statement Friday. "The university is comfortable with proceeding as an independent program and is confident it will not have a negative impact on the team. However, Dixie State will be actively exploring conference options for football for the future."
Dixie State will be the second Utah school to participate in D1 football as an independent, as BYU has been doing it for the past eight seasons.
