Arkansas State Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said Tuesday that the Red Wolves were going “Howlywood” with the announcement of ASU playing a football game at Southern Cal in 2015.
A trip to South Beach comes first.
Two days after adding Southern California to its 2015 nonconference schedule, Arkansas State added more prestige to its future schedule with the announcement it will play at Miami in 2014 and host the Hurricanes in Jonesboro in 2017.
Southern Cal and Miami have claimed 16 football national championships between them, 11 for USC and five for Miami.
ASU, coming off back-toback 10-3 seasons with two trips to the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Ala., will receive a $1.3 million guarantee to play USC at the Coliseum. The financial agreements for the ASU-Miami series were not announced.
ASU played at Oregon and Nebraska this past season and suffered two lopsided defeats - Oregon beat ASU 57-34, and Nebraska defeated ASU 42-13 - but it received about $2 million combined for making the trips to Eugue, Ore., and Lincoln, Neb.
The addition of Miami, which has won five national championships since 1983, will mark the first time a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference has agreed to a homeand-home series with ASU.
Miami becomes the second major-conference teamto agree to a home-andhome with the Red Wolves. Missouri, which hosts ASU in Columbia, Mo., this fall, is scheduled to play at ASU in 2015. Missouri will be the first SEC team to play in Jonesboro since Ole Miss in 2001.
Other big-name opponents already on ASU’s schedule include Auburn, which will pay ASU $1.1 million to play at Auburn, as well as Missouri this fall. ASU will play roadgames at Miami and Tennessee in 2014, with two spots yet to be filled.
“As our brand continues to emerge, we will keep trying to schedule home games in Jonesboro against the top teams in the country,” Mohajir said. “We are excited to add a home-and-home series with a program that possesses, in my opinion, a top-10 national brand.
“The fact that we are able to bring teams the caliber of Miami to our stadium reflects that our own brand is on the rise, and that is a great tribute to everyone involved in our recent success.”
ASU most recently played Miami in 1997, the Red Wolves’ first game against an ACC opponent. ASU lost toMiami 42-10 in 1997.
It also played and lost at Georgia, 38-7, and Virginia Tech, 50-0, that season. Virginia Tech played in the Big East at the time.
In addition to Miami andVirginia Tech, the only other ACC opponent Arkansas State has faced is North Carolina State.
Miami, coached by Al Golden, finished the 2012 season with a 7-5 record that included a 5-3 conference mark, which tied for first in the ACC Coastal Division. The Hurricanes did not attend a bowl game in 2013 because of a self-imposed bowl ban in the wake of an NCAA investigation.
Future foes
Non-conference opponents on ASU’s schedule in coming years: 2013 At Auburn (Auburn, Ala.) At Missouri (Columbia, Mo.) 2014 At Miami (Miami) At Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.) 2015 At Southern Cal (Los Angeles) Missouri (Jonesboro) 2017 Miami (Jonesboro)
Sports, Pages 19 on 06/29/2013