CARROLLTON, Ga. – The University of West Georgia football program unveiled its schedule for the 2021 gridiron campaign on Monday, a 10-game slate to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of NCAA football at UWG.

The Wolves kick things off with a pair of non-conference contests on Sept. 2 and 11, traveling to Carson-Newman for a Thursday night season opener in Jefferson City, Tennessee, and hosting Morehouse in the home opener at University Stadium in Week 2.

West Georgia will host Delta State for a non-conference clash on Sept. 18 before beginning the official Gulf South Conference grind,traveling to Rome for a showdown with Shorter on Sept. 25. UWG is back home on Oct. 2 against West Alabama and then hits the road for back-to-back games at Mississippi College on Oct. 9 and West Florida on Oct. 16.

The Wolves close out the month of October by hosting North Greenville on Oct. 23 for Homecoming and paying a visit to rival Valdosta State on Oct. 30 in the annual Battle for the Peach Basket.
West Georgia has a bye on Nov. 6 before closing out the regular season at home on Nov. 13 in a second donnybrook against Delta State. The NCAA Playoffs start on Nov. 20.

Game times, ticket pricing, and promotional home dates will be announced at a later date. Season tickets are expected to be available on June 1. 

With five home games on the docket, UWG head coach David Dean is excited to announce the 2021 schedule and begin the journey toward a special fall campaign for West Georgia football.

"It's been a long time since we've had an opportunity to play. Seeing the schedule kind of starts to put it in reality and making all the plans for our road trips and so forth," Dean said. "I think it's a good schedule. We've got some good teams that are coming in here. Hopefully, we're going to have a lot of folks that are hungry for football and ready to get out here and watch these guys play."
West Georgia will face a major test right out of the gates against Carson Newman, which reached the second round of the NCAA Playoffs in 2019.

"If you look back at the 2019 year when West Florida won the national championship, the only game they lost was Carson Newman in the opening game. So it's going to be a big task, especially playing on the road," Dean said. "I think our guys are going to be excited and ready to play and hopefully we're going to play well. It's a different type of offense. They run that split-back veer, which is something we don't see a whole bunch. It's going to be a challenge for our defense."

Of course, once GSC play kicks off, the real fun begins. Dean noted how it will be even more daunting with the new transfer rules in place.

"To me, this is the toughest conference in Division II football. Top to bottom, anybody can beat anybody on any given day if you don't play well. It's going to be a challenge every week," Dean said. "I know there's going to be a lot of change, as far as what's happening with all these transfer portals. I think all of the teams in the conference are all going to be different. They're all going to be new and different faces. It's going to be a week-to-week thing to see who we're going to line up against."