Brought To You By NSU; Written by Jason Pugh
For the first time in five years, the Northwestern State football team will play 12 games in the 2024 season.
Five of those will take place in Turpin Stadium, including the first visit from perennial FCS Top 25 team Weber State, as NSU announced its full slate Thursday. The seven-game Southland Conference schedule was announced in December and features three of the Demons’ five home games.
Northwestern State’s first eight games of the season will be alternated between road games and home, starting with the Demons’ season opener at Tulsa on Aug. 31. The first game of the Blaine McCorkle era also will mark the first meeting between NSU and the Golden Hurricane since 1983 and just the second all-time.
“I am very excited about what our non-conference slate offers us this fall,” McCorkle said. “We have two FBS games that will test us and three very solid FCS teams from three different conferences that allow us to see how we match up against teams at our level from across the country before we head into Southland play. Both SEMO and Weber State are at the top of their respective leagues year in and year out, and Prairie View A&M played for the SWAC title last year so it will be great to play against three of the best in FCS football right off the bat.”
After facing a spate of familiar non-conference opponents in 2023, the 2024 non-conference group is one that features less-than-familiar faces.
Following the trip to Tulsa, the Demons open their home schedule Sept. 7 by hosting Prairie View A&M in the first matchup between the schools. That is followed by another first-time opponent when the Demons travel to Mobile, Alabama, to face South Alabama on Sept. 14.
Weber State will make its first visit to Natchitoches a week later (Sept. 21) to cap the run of first-time foes. Northwestern State then closes out its non-conference portion of the schedule by traveling to Southeast Missouri State to face the Redhawks for the second time in school history and complete a home-and-home series that began in Natchitoches in 2022.
The Demons open their seven-game Southland Conference schedule by hosting Lamar on Oct. 5 before enjoying their open week Oct. 12.
NSU then plays three of its next four games away from home, beginning with an Oct. 19 trip to Southeastern. Following the Oct. 26 Homecoming matchup with UIW, the Demons travel back-to-back weeks to Texas A&M-Commerce (Nov. 2) and to defending Southland champion Nicholls (Nov. 9).
The Demons’ 2024 home finale will be Nov. 16 when they host McNeese before traveling to HCU for the regular-season finale Nov. 23.
“I think the strength of our non-conference schedule is exactly what we need to prepare us for Southland play,” McCorkle said. “Conference play is always a heightened level of intensity, and I feel like after five very tough non-conference opponents we will have been in environments and faced opponents that will have us ready to face the rigors of league action. We have a lot of work to do first, but I am really looking forward to our staff’s first year working through the conference and seeing it first-hand as I have followed the Southland for a long time. It should be an exciting fall, and the schedule provides a lot of opportunities for our guys to compete against great competition.”
For ticket information on Northwestern State’s 2024 football schedule, log onto NSUTickets.com, visit the office inside the Donald G. Kelly Athletic Complex or call 318-357-4268.
2024 Northwestern State Football Schedule
Date Opponent Location
Aug. 31 Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma
Sept. 7 Prairie View A&M Natchitoches
Sept. 14 South Alabama Mobile, Alabama
Sept. 21 Weber State Natchitoches
Sept. 28 SE Missouri State Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Oct. 5 Lamar* Natchitoches
Oct. 19 Southeastern* Hammond
Oct. 26 UIW* Natchitoches
Nov. 2 Texas A&M-Commerce* Commerce, Texas
Nov. 9 Nicholls* Thibodaux
Nov. 16 McNeese* Lake Charles
Nov. 23 HCU* Houston
