Prairie View A&M releases 2018 football schedule

The inaugural schedule of the Eric Dooley era of Prairie View A&M University football is highlighted by exciting local and national matchups during the 2018 season.

The Panthers will open the season in late August with the first of six consecutive games away from home before closing with four of the final five contests at home in Panther Stadium.

“We are very excited about the opening of the Eric Dooley era with one of the most challenging football schedules in program history,” said PVAMU Vice President/Athletic Director Ashley Robinson. “It provides not only great exposure for the football program, but also Prairie View A&M University. We look forward to seeing Panther Nation and supporting our student-athletes from all corners of the country.”

PVAMU football will face schools from Conference USA, MEAC, Southland, and Mountain West conferences, in addition to playing the seven-game Southwestern Athletic Conference schedule.

Dooley will also face four new head coaches along the way as well as the three schools he previously coached in the SWAC.

The 11-game schedule begins in Houston on August 25 as Dooley makes his head coaching debut at C-USA member Rice and first-year head coach Mike Bloomgren. The Panthers last played at Rice in 2016, losing in a high-scoring affair, 65-44.

The Panthers will then travel to Atlanta to participate in the MEAC-SWAC Challenge for the first time since 2011. PVAMU will face MEAC foe North Carolina Central and another first-year head coach in Granville Eastman.

Prairie View A&M will then face Southland power and perennial national championship contender Sam Houston State in Huntsville. In last year’s home opener, the Panthers battled the Bearkats before falling 44-31.

The Panthers will then face Mountain West foe UNLV in the first ever meeting between the schools to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule.

PVAMU opens conference play Sept. 22 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff and first-year head coach Cedric Thomas. Dooley served as offensive coordinator at UAPB from 2011-13, winning the SWAC and HBCU National Championship in 2012.

Prairie View A&M will end the month of September in the State Fair Classic in Dallas facing Grambling, where he was offensive coordinator from 2013-16 and helped the Tigers to a pair of SWAC Championships and an HBCU National Title.

Dooley and the 2018 Panthers will make their Panther Stadium debut in the Oct. 13 home opener against Southern, where Dooley coached 14 years in various roles, winning four SWAC titles and two HBCU National Titles.

Homecoming 2018 will be celebrated on Oct. 27 when the Panthers host Alcorn State in the second of only two games played in October.

PVAMU football will open November at Jackson State in the final road contest of the season.

After a Nov. 10 open date, the Panthers will conclude the regular season with consecutive home games. PVAMU will host Alabama State on November 17 in Panther Stadium.

In the regular season finale on Thanksgiving weekend, Prairie View A&M will face Texas Southern on Nov. 24.

The 2018 Celebration Bowl is scheduled for Dec. 15

2018 Prairie View A&M Football Schedule