Lions announce football schedule for Fall 2011

The Texas A&M University-Commerce athletic department announced the 2011 football schedule earlier this week. The 10 game schedule has the Lions playing five home games (four at Memorial Stadium and one at Cowboys Stadium) and five away games against some of the most difficult teams in the Lone Star Conference.

"I think it's the toughest schedule since we've been here," Head Coach Guy Morriss said. "But it is what it is. There were four teams from our own conference in the playoffs last year, so you have to deal with that. We've added Central Washington, who has been in the top 10-15 pretty consistently in the past five years, so that doesn't help much."

The Lions will play Texas A&M-Kingsville, Central Washington, Abilene Christian, Midwestern State and West Texas A&M, all of which ranked in the top 10 in Super Regional 4 last year and finished with a combined 45-11 record. Also on the schedule is a bus trip to Fayetteville, Iowa, to play Upper Iowa and battles against LSC opponents Angelo State, Eastern New Mexico, Tarleton State and Incarnate Word.

"We have to be ready to play no matter where the game is located," Morris said. "It is an opportunity to play, and it looks like we may only get 10 opportunities, so we better make the best of them. If it turns out that we go up to Upper Iowa and we have to bus, we'll do the best we can and then there's a possibility we're going to have an open week and we'll use that to prepare for Midwestern State."

Because of the open week and the game at Cowboys Stadium for the LSC Football Festival, the Lions won't get a chance to play at Memorial Stadium until a month into the season.

"I don't feel like [the game at Cowboys Stadium] is a home game, but still it's an easy trip," Morriss said. "At the fourth week in the season we finally get to play against a friendly home crowd. We'll definitely get tested. In my way of thinking is that if we were on a level field with those programs, it wouldn't be a problem at all but right now we're not so right now we have to find a way to overcome it.  The conference is tough, it's a quality conference."

For more information, contact the A&M-Commerce SID Rand Champion at rand_champion@tamu-commerce.edu.