Incarnate Word's football Cardinals have a schedule for the fall of 2012 and the lineup has a pair of significant dates; events unlike any seen previously by the UIW faithful.
The first date to mark for Cardinals fans is September 8. That night Incarnate Word will be in Huntsville to play the 2011 national runner-up in the Football Championship Subseries. The Cardinals and Sam Houston State, a member of the Division I Southland Conference, will kickoff at 6 p.m.at the Bearkats' Bowers Stadium.
In 2011 the Bearkats put up a perfect 14-0 mark and reached a number one ranking before losing in the title game to North Dakota State. SHSU returns 20 starters from that team which sailed through the Southland undefeated. The 14 wins were the most ever for an SLC team.
"We have a bunch of tough teams on our schedule," UIW Coach Larry Kennan said after getting a look at the slate. "The Lone Star Conference is as good a Division-II league as there is and we will have to be good to stay in some of those games."
Kennan continued. "Obviously Sam Houston State is a fabulous team. We have watched them on television and they have tremendous speed. Where they are is where we want to be. We will respect them, yes. But fear them, no."
The very next week, September 14 which is a Friday, the Cardinals will be in Dallas to compete in the second Lone Star Conference Football Festival at Cowboys Stadium. Now a two-day event, the Festival will see UIW and Eastern New Mexico kickoff at noon on that Friday in the first of six games over two days.
"This is a dream come true for us," Kennan said when he saw the Cowboys Stadium game on the schedule. "I am talking about everybody, players, coaches, fans, administration. People just drive by to get a look at the place and we get to play in it. We might even meet Jerry Jones."
All-in-all, nine LSC teams will play in four league games and one non-conference affair. The sixth contest will pit a pair of as yet undetermined high school squads.
Later in this spring daily tickets as well as two-day festival passes will be on sale.
The Cardinals will play six home games at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium in 2012. Four of those will be Lone Star affairs-West Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Commerce, Tarleton State and Abilene Christian. The two other home games bring Texas College for the September 1 opener and in October McMurry.
In the meantime the Cardinals are looking straight ahead at national signing day on February 1 followed by spring drills set to begin March 20 and run through the annual spring game on April 14.
