February 26, 2008

BRYANT FOOTBALL ANNOUNCES 2008 SCHEDULE
Eleven Game Schedule Features Five Home Games At Bulldog Stadium

SMITHFIELD, RI -  A total of five home games and a road match-up at the University of Massachusetts highlight the 2008 Bryant University football schedule announced this afternoon by head coach Marty Fine. 

Bryant, which will begin its first year of transitioning to Division I Championship Subdivision, will begin year-one of Division I play with an 11-game schedule. 

The season will kick off on Saturday, August 30 when the Bulldogs travel to Central Connecticut State University for a game with the Northeast Conference member Blue Devils.  

Bryant will become an official member of the Northeast Conference in the fall of 2012 following the school's four-year transition to Division I.

The home schedule will feature former Northeast-10 rivals Southern Connecticut (Sept. 6) and Merrimack College (Sept. 13).  The Merrimack game will be Homecoming and Reunion Weekend on the Bryant campus.  Monmouth (Sept. 20), Robert Morris (Oct. 18) and Duquesne (Nov. 1) round out the remaining home games at Bulldog Stadium.  

In addition to the season-opener at Central Connecticut, the Bulldogs will travel to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on Saturday, October 25. UMass, the championship subdivision runner up in 2006, won the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) league title with a 10-3 overall record and 7-1 league mark in 2007 and finished the season ranked seventh nationally.  

Bryant is coming off back-to-back Northeast-10 Conference Championships in 2006 and 2007 and qualified for two consecutive NCAA playoffs.