VERMILLION, S.D. -- Ed Meierkort, head coach of The University of South Dakota football team, has announced the 2008 football schedule. In the school's first season as a NCAA Division I FCS member, the Coyotes will play an 11-game schedule.

USD will play five games at home in the DakotaDome and six games on the road. Five of the road games are against NCAA Division I FCS opponents. The U will also play three games against opponents from the Great West Football Conference, the league in which USD will be a member of starting in 2008. The Coyotes have eight opponents on their schedule that they have never faced before.

"One of our toughest challenges in the transition to DI is scheduling, and I think we have put together a very respectable schedule for a team in its first year of the transition," said Meierkort. "Our team is very excited about the new opponents we'll face this fall. We'll play a very tough Northern Iowa team that spent a significant amount of time ranked number one in FCS last season. We go to Montana State and back to Louisiana, this time to face Southeastern Louisiana in what should be a very exciting atmosphere. We'll also get our first taste of the Great West Football Conference. Playing an 11-game schedule in our first year of Division I was very important to us."

The U will open the season at home against St. Ambrose University (Iowa) on Saturday, August 30. St. Ambrose finished the season with an 8-3 record and a 7-0 mark in Mid-States Football Association play, capturing the league title. Head coach Mike Magistrelli completed his first season as head coach in 2007. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

USD will then hit the road when they travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa to take on the University of Northern Iowa. The Coyotes and Panthers will meet at 4:05 p.m., on Saturday, September 6 at the UNI-Dome. It is the first meeting between the two schools since 1982 when Northern Iowa picked up a 41-24 victory, improving their record to 21-16-1 against the Coyotes. The last time USD won a game in the series was in 1981 when they earned a 34-12 win. The Panthers concluded the 2007 season with a 12-1 mark overall and a perfect 6-0 record in the Gateway Football Conference. UNI spent six weeks as the No. 1 team in Division I FCS and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs, falling to Delaware. Head coach Mark Farley owns a 63-25 record in his seven seasons at UNI.

South Dakota will be on the road for back-to-back weeks, as they will head off to Hammond, La., to face Southeastern Louisiana University on Saturday, September 13. The 6:00 p.m., meeting between USD and SLU will be the first ever between the two schools and will be played at Strawberry Stadium. Southeastern had a 3-8 record overall last season and they finished 2-5 in the Southland Conference. USD and the Lions had one common opponent last season, McNeese State, with SLU losing 45-17 on the road. 2007 was the first season for Mike Lucas as head coach at Southeastern Louisiana.

Following the two-game road trip, the Coyotes will return home to the friendly confines of the DakotaDome, where they have gone 22-1 in the last four seasons under Meierkort. They will host Culver-Stockton College (Mo.) in the first meeting between the two schools on Saturday, September 20 at 2:00 p.m. The Wildcats went 1-10 overall last season and were 1-9 in Heart of America Athletic Conference action. The game against CSC will also be the annual USD Hall of Fame game.

The Coyotes will then be back on the road for another two-game road trip, starting on Saturday, September 27 when they play at Montana State University at 1:05 p.m. (MST). The game will be played at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman, Mont., and will be the first meeting ever between the two schools. MSU is coming off a 6-5 season overall and 4-4 run in the Big Sky Conference. Rob Ash, who has a career record of 182-104-5 in 28 seasons, completed his first year as head coach of the Bobcats.

USD will then continue to travel out west to play one of its three Great West Football Conference opponents, California Polytechnic State University. The two teams will square off at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Saturday, October 4 at 6:05 p.m. (PST). This will be the first meeting between the two schools. The Mustangs finished 7-4 overall and 2-2 in GWFC action last season. Head coach Rich Ellerson completed his seventh season at Cal Poly last season, improving his record to 48-31.

After the trip to the west coast, South Dakota will return to Vermillion for Dakota Days against Missouri S&T on Saturday, October 11 at 2:00 p.m. Head coach Kirby Cannon, who was in his ninth season, directed the Miners to a 4-7 record overall and a 3-2 mark in the Great Lakes Football Conference. USD's overall record on homecoming dates is 57-28-5. This will be the second meeting between the two schools, as USD won 23-0 in 1902.

For the first time in program history, the Coyotes will play a team from South Carolina. On Saturday, November 1 USD will travel to Tigerville, S.C. to face North Greenville University at 12:00 p.m. (EST). The Crusaders, under the direction of fourth year head coach Mike Taylor, went 5-6 last season. The game will be played at Younts Stadium with the time of kickoff to be determined at a later date.

The Coyotes will welcome another new opponent to the DakotaDome, on Saturday, November 8 at 2:00 p.m., as they host Southern Oregon University. The Raiders went 5-4 last season in NAIA action and are coached by Steve Helminiak.

The U will then return to GWFC action on Saturday, November 15 when they travel to Southern Utah University. The two teams will kickoff for their first meeting at 1:00 p.m. (MST) at Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City, Utah. The Thunderbirds are coming off a winless season in 2007. In December they named Ed Lamb, who was previously the defensive coordinator at the University of San Diego, as their new football head coach.

USD will then wrap up its first season as a Division I team against a familiar opponent. They will close out 2008 against the University of North Dakota at 2:00 p.m., on Saturday, November 22 at the DakotaDome. It will be the 91st meeting between the two teams with UND owning a 57-28-5 series lead. This will be the first time since the 1998 season that the Coyotes will face UND without Dale Lennon as the Sioux's head coach. Chris Mussman, who was UND's offensive coordinator for the past seven seasons, was named as Lennon's successor. The Sioux went 10-2 last season and were 7-1 in the NCC. They earned a bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs, defeating Winona State in the first round and then falling to Grand Valley State in the second round.

South Dakota also announced opponents for the 2009 season. Currently they have agreed to games either verbally or contractually with 10 different teams. Eight of the 10 teams are NCAA Division I teams and 2009 will include a complete four-game Great West Football Conference schedule. USD will host McNeese State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Utah, UC-Davis, West Texas A&M and William Penn. The Coyotes will travel to Cal Poly, North Dakota, Northern Colorado and Northern Iowa.

2008 South Dakota Football Schedule

Date Opponent Site Time Aug. 30 St. Ambrose DakotaDome TBA Sept. 6 Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa 4:05 p.m. Sept. 13 SE Louisiana Hammond, La. 6:00 p.m. Sept. 20 Culver-Stockton DakotaDome 2:00 p.m. Sept. 27 Montana State Bozeman, Mont. 1:05 p.m. (MST) Oct. 4 Cal Poly* San Luis Obispo, Calif. 6:05 p.m. (PST) Oct. 11 Missouri S&T DakotaDome 2:00 p.m. Nov. 1 North Greenville Tigerville, S.C. 12:00 p.m. (EST) Nov. 8 Southern Oregon DakotaDome 2:00 p.m. Nov. 15 Southern Utah* Cedar City, Utah 1:00 p.m. (MST) Nov. 22 North Dakota* DakotaDome 2:00 p.m. *= Great West Football Conference game Home games in bold All subject to change

The University of South Dakota will begin its first year of transition to NCAA Division I in 2008. They will be members of the Great West Football Conference in 2008 and will be eligible for the conference championship.