Football | 5/27/2015 4:57:00 PM
ELLENSBURG, Wash. (May 27) – The Central Washington University football team will play a 10-game schedule that includes a season opener against defending NCAA Division II National Champion Colorado State University Pueblo.
All 10 games will be against NCAA Division II opponents, with the final six games on the schedule counting toward their Great Northwest Athletic Conference record.
The Wildcats do have a bye week scheduled for Oct. 31, but are looking to find an opponent to fill the void in the schedule to give CWU 11 Division II football games.
On Sept. 5 the Wildcats will travel to Pueblo, Colo. to faceoff with the ThunderWolves who went 14-1 last season defeating Minnesota St.-Mankato 13-0. This will be the first ever meeting between Central Washington and CSU Pueblo.
"We are looking forward to a challenging game to start the season," CWU Head Coach
Ian Shoemaker said. "Last season we started with Montana and this year we play the defending Division II champions, which will give us National exposure and adds strength to our schedule."
The Wildcats will stay on the road to play Dixie State just five days later in St. George, Utah. The Wildcats defeated Dixie state twice last season by a combined score of 97-31.
The first home game of 2015 will come on Sept. 19 when the Wildcats host Western Oregon University. The last time the Wildcats played Western Oregon in their home opener they defeated the Wolves 28-7 back in 1988.
On Sept. 26, CWU will play Simon Fraser and the game is tentatively scheduled to be played at Pop Keeney Stadium for the second annual Battle of the Border at 6 p.m. In the inaugural Battle of the Border, the Wildcats steamrolled the Clan en route to a 63-7 win.
The first of six conference games for CWU will come on Oct. 3 when they travel to Azusa Pacific to square off with the defending GNAC Champions.
Homecoming is slated for Oct. 24 against Humboldt State University, and the Wildcats will look to get revenge against the Lumberjacks who defeated CWU 20-38 last year in Arcata, Calif.
Central Washington will wrap up its regular season at home against Dixie State on Nov. 11, which marks third time in the last five seasons that the Wildcats play their final regular season home game against the Red Storm.
"Our schedule lays out well in terms of travel as compared to last year," Shoemaker added, "The first two games will be a great environment for our guys to bond without the rigors of school and unlike last year we do not have long bus rides in the middle of the year, everything is either close to home or we are flying."
2015 Schedule | Date | Opponent | Time | Location |
| Sept. 5 | CSU Pueblo | 5:00 p.m. | Pueblo, CO |
| Sept. 10 | Dixie State | 5:00 p.m. | St. George, UT |
| Sept 19 | Western Oregon | 1:00 p.m. | Ellensburg |
| Sept 26 | Simon Fraser | 6:00 p.m. | Bothell |
| *Oct. 3 | Azusa Pacific | 6:00 p.m. | Azusa, CA |
| *Oct. 10 | SD School of Mines | 1:00 p.m. | Ellensburg |
| *Oct. 17 | Western Oregon | 1:00 p.m. | Monmouth, OR |
| *Oct. 24 | Humboldt State | 1:00 p.m. | Ellensburg |
| Oct. 31 | Open | | |
| *Nov. 7 | Simon Fraser | 1:00 p.m. | Burnaby, BC |
| *Nov. 14 | Dixie State | 1:00 p.m. | Ellensburg |
*Great Northwest Athletic Conference Game
