ARKANSAS STATE : Penn State off, Alabama on schedule
Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007
JONESBORO — Arkansas State’s 2008 football schedule isn’t official, but there has already been a change.
The Indians will not play at Penn State, and have replaced the Nittany Lions on the schedule with Alabama. The Indians will make their first trip to 92, 138-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa to play the Crimson Tide on Nov. 1.
It will be the second time Arkansas State has faced Alabama and will mark the third consecutive year it has faced an SEC team after playing at Auburn in 2006 and at Tennessee last season. Arkansas State first met Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham in 1982, with Alabama winning 34-7.
Arkansas State was originally scheduled to play Penn State on Sept. 6 and earn a $ 750, 000 guarantee a week after opening the season at Texas A&M. Athletic Director Dean Lee said the program will earn the same amount of guarantee money for playing Alabama.
Lee said the schedule change was initiated by Penn State, which has added Oregon State in place of Arkansas State. ESPN also played a role, Lee said, and in accepting the scheduling change Arkansas State might have earned a shot at television exposure in the future.
“ESPN brought it to us and I think ESPN was working with Penn State and the Oregon State game and Alabama and one of their games,” Lee said. “We’re getting some future opportunities as well that we’ll be able to participate in, too.”
Lee said it is disappointing Indians fans won’t be able to see their team match up against veteran Penn State Coach Joe Paterno at Happy Valley, but playing at Alabama will be special.
Alabama has sold out every home game since 1988 and the Indians potentially could play before their second-biggest crowd after 102, 368 attended their game at Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium this year.
“From our standpoint both Alabama and Penn State are obviously attractive,” Lee said. “The guarantee did stay the same. I think our fans will be excited about the opportunity to play Alabama and the opportunity to travel a little bit closer to home as well.”
Arkansas State’s 12-game schedule isn’t expected to be released until at least March 1. The Sun Belt Conference prefers to allow schools to work on schedules through December before presenting them to ESPN in January and making final adjustments in February.
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