LITTLE ROCK — When Terry Mohajir took over as Arkansas State’s athletic director last fall, the common chatter he heard was that high-profile football opponents wouldn’t come to Jonesboro for a game.

If ASU played such games in this state, he was told, they’d have to be at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

“That’s all people ever talked about: ‘Hey, can you get so-and-so to play in Little Rock?’ ” Mohajir said Wednesday. “Why do they have to play in Little Rock?”

Apparently, they don’t.

Arkansas State and Missouri announced a home-andhome football series Wednesday, a deal that includes a Sept. 28 game against the SEC opponent in Columbia, Mo., and a return game at Liberty Bank Stadium in Jonesboro on Sept. 12, 2015.

The deal completes ASU’s nonconference schedule for 2013. It also reflects the scheduling philosophy of Mohajir and Coach Bryan Harsin, one that includes a continued reliance on playing opponents from BCS conferences but not under the assumption that those games have to be played on the road or at neutral sites.

Such games provide ASU an opportunity to grow a brand that Mohajir said he believes has been enhanced by back-to-back Sun Belt Conference titles and 10-victory seasons.

“In order to move up and play on a national landscape, we have to play high-level opponents and beat them,” Mahajir said.

ASU’s trip to Missouri this year completes a nonconference schedule that includes an Aug. 31 home game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a Sept. 7 trip to Auburn, Ala., to face former coach Gus Malzahn, a Sept. 21 game at Memphis and an Oct. 12 home game against Idahoand Coach Paul Petrino, who spent last season as offensive coordinator for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Missouri’s trip to Jonesboro in 2015, which Mohajir said could be moved to 2014 depending on future SEC and Sun Belt schedules, will be just the second time an SEC team has visited ASU. Ole Miss beat ASU 35-17 during Joe Hollis’ final year as coach in 2001.

Missouri and ASU have played twice - Missouri won 52-20 in 2004 at Columbia and 44-17 in 2005 in Kansas City, Mo. - and the Tigers last visited a Sun Belt member in 2004, when they lost 24-14 at Troy.

“We’re very pleased to finish out our 2013 schedule with a quality opponent such as Arkansas State,” Bryan Maggard, Missouri’s executive associate director of athletics, said in a university release. “Due to recent changes in the Sun Belt Conference, we were able to secure this game, and we appreciate the efforts of Arkansas State’s administration for making this happen.”

Mohajir said Wednesdaythat ASU’s full 2013 schedule should be announced in early March.

Mohajir also said he would like to extend the Memphis series, the three-year deal that included 2011 and 2012 games in Jonesboro and expires after next season’s game. But the Tigers don’t have any open dates until after 2017.

He also said he isn’t against playing a game in Little Rock, which ASU hasn’t done since a 2006 loss to Oklahoma State, but he said it has to “make sense schedulewise and opponentwise.”

There were talks of playing the 2013 season opener against UAPB in Little Rock.But depending on how the Sun Belt schedule shakes out, that could have meant the Red Wolves could go until October before playing at Liberty Bank Stadium.

“I think playing in Little Rock is important, but it also has to make sense for us,” Mohajir said. “We’re not going to play in Little Rock just to play in Little Rock. ... We’re going to play in Little Rock, but it has to be about what’s best for the program.”

Nonconference games DATE OPPONENT LOCATION Aug. 31 UA-Pine Bluff Jonesboro Sept. 7 Auburn Auburn, Ala. Sept. 21 Memphis Memphis Sept. 28 Missouri Columbia, Mo. Oct. 12 Idaho Jonesboro

Sports, Pages 26 on 01/31/2013