Sam Houston Bearskats to Face New Challenges in CUSA’s 10-Team, Divisionless Alignment
Press Release from GoBearkats.com
DALLAS – Conference USA has announced its football schedule for the 2024 season, finalizing the Sam Houston schedule for the upcoming fall.
The 10-team alignment for the 2024 campaign will feature each team playing eight conference games, along with four non-league contests. The Bearkats’ 12-game schedule will get going when Sam Houston goes to Rice on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Season tickets for the upcoming 2024 season are immediately available and can be purchased by calling the Bearkat Ticket Office at 936-294-1729 or online at GoBearkats.com/tickets.
CUSA’s 2024 alignment will feature 10 teams with no divisions. FIU, Jax State, newcomer Kennesaw State, Liberty, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, NM State, Sam Houston, UTEP and WKU comprise Conference USA for the 2024 football season.
Before Sam Houston jumps into CUSA play by hosting NM State on Sept. 21, the Kats will play three non-conference games. Along with the opener at Rice, SHSU will travel to UCF (Sept. 7) and host Hawai’i (Sept. 14) in the home opener at Bowers Stadium.
Sam Houston will close out the month of September with a second trip to the Bayou City when it renews an old rivalry with Texas State, taking on the Bobcats at NRG Stadium on Saturday, September 28.
The calendar then flips to October and the second season which will see all October league matchups played on midweek evenings after a successful launch in 2023. CUSA’s broadcast partners will share the October weeknight football games on linear television across CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. Of last season’s 19 midweek contests during this timeframe, 14 of those games were decided by two scores or less, while nine were one-score games, including two in overtime.
Sam Houston’s first October midweek game comes on Thursday, October 3, when it travels to UTEP for the program’s first game in the Sun Bowl since 2003. The Kats then return to Bowers Stadium to host WKU (Oct. 16) in a Wednesday matchup. The month will conclude with consecutive Tuesday games at FIU (Oct. 22) and at home vs Louisiana Tech (Oct. 29).
After hosting the Bulldogs the Bearkats will have an 18-day layover before back-to-back road games at Kennesaw State (Nov. 16) and Jax State (Nov. 23). It will be the Kats’ first-ever trip to KSU after having hosted the Owls in both 2017 and 2023, and SHSU’s first trek to Burgess-Snow Field in Jacksonville since 2015 when it faced off against the Gamecocks in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs.
The Kats will close out the 2024 regular season with a tall task at Bowers Stadium, hosting Liberty on November 30. The Flames are coming off a 2023 CUSA championship and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl.
Conference USA’s 20th annual Championship Game, pitting the top-two finishers during conference play, will be played on Friday, December 6, on CBS Sports Network during championship week. A finalized kickoff time for the title game will be announced at a later date.
It is important to note that all games are subject to date changes and some dates may move in the coming weeks in order to accommodate national television selections. A schedule of televised games will be released from CUSA at a later date.
