The Tommies celebrate after a player makes a sack for a 4-yard loss at a Nov. 16, 2019 game. The St. Thomas football team announced its first three non-conference competitors as a part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Wednesday. (TommieMedia file photo)
The St. Thomas football team announced its first three non-conference competitors as a part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Monday.
Those opponents include the University of Northern Iowa, the University of South Dakota and the University of North Dakota, all of which are in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Tommies first face off against the Northern Iowa Panthers on Saturday, Sept. 18 in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
“Obviously they are tremendous, not only jumping up two levels, but they are a high-ranked team for that level in the country,” coach Glenn Caruso said. “For us, a lot of the transition is learning what we need to learn, and it’s one of those things that’s refreshing and allows for exploration and a benchmark for what we are going to need to do to move this next chapter forward.”
In addition, the Tommies will face the Panthers, a top-25 FCS program on Saturday Sept. 7, 2024.
The Tommies plan to meet the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota, on Saturday, Sep. 9, 2023, and the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026.
St. Thomas football has faced all three teams in the past. They played Northern Iowa twice, losing 22-0 in 1926 and tying 6-6 in 1927.
The Tommies met South Dakota in 1922, 1970 and 1979, all of which were losses. The Tommies faced North Dakota 18 times from 1905-1965.
St. Thomas will join the Pioneer League for football this summer after approval from NCAA in July 2020 to directly move all of its varsity sports from Division III into Division I.
The Pioneer League has 11 teams from 10 different states. Those teams include: Butler, Davidson, Dayton, Drake, Marist, Morehead State, Presbyterian, San Diego, Stetson and Valparaiso.
Caruso’s team is excited for the unprecedented journey of entering a new league with strong competition.
“We have a genuine excitement for competition, and we want to compete and play the best teams we can play,” Caruso said. “And as competitors, we want to put ourselves up against the best.”
The Tommies will play an eight-game schedule in 2021 for their first season in the Pioneer League, including four home games and four away games. The conference schedule is expected to be announced later this year.
Olivia Paradise can be reached at para4336@stthomas.edu.