April 19, 2012

2012 Patriot League Football Schedule
Patriot League Football Spring Central

Center Valley, Pa. - The 2012 Patriot League Football schedule features a mixed bag of non-League action early before the League race takes over the majority of the slate in October and November.

The full slate, released on Thursday, includes non-League games against opponents from six different Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conferences as well as Fordham's matchup with Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent Cincinnati.

Patriot League teams will play 16 games against opponents from the Ivy League and eight versus foes from the Northeast Conference. The Patriot League went a combined 14-7 against the two regional foes last season.

The slate also features matchups with New Hampshire, Delaware, Villanova and William & Mary from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). All four schools are perennial FCS playoff contenders. Colgate will play at returning conference champions Albany (NEC) and Stony Brook (Big South), while Lehigh visits Liberty in another intriguing non-League tilt.

The Patriot League schedule begins on Sept. 22 when Lafayette visits Bucknell, and continues the next week when Fordham visits Lehigh. There will be two Patriot League games on both Oct. 6 and 13, with three League contests scheduled for each of the final five weeks of the regular season as the race for the 2012 championship heats up.

Fordham will be ineligible for the Patriot League title for the third consecutive season due to its awarding of athletic merit aid that began with the class entering in the fall of 2010. Games involving the Rams do not count towards the Patriot League standings for either team, though the contests are still considered Patriot League matchups. While the entire Patriot League will be permitted to award athletic merit aid starting with the class entering in the fall of 2013, Fordham's eligibility for the League title beyond this season has not yet been determined.

The 2012 season kicks off on Aug. 30 as Holy Cross hosts New Hampshire and Fordham welcomes Division II Lock Haven in the debut for Head Coach Joe Moorhead. The opening weekend continues two days later with two-time defending Patriot League champion Lehigh hosting Monmouth, Colgate at Albany and Georgetown at Davidson.

The next two weeks exclusively feature non-League action. The Sept. 8 slate includes Georgetown's home opener against Wagner and five other Patriot League teams going on the road, with challenging matchups pitting Lafayette at William & Mary, Fordham at Villanova, Colgate at South Dakota and Lehigh at Central Connecticut State. The following week has five Patriot League teams hosting opponents from the Ivy League, with Lafayette playing its home opener against Penn. Colgate also begins its home slate against Sacred Heart, while Bucknell visits Delaware.

Bucknell plays its home opener on Sept. 22 as the Patriot League schedule kicks off with the Bison welcoming Lafayette to Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The other five teams all play a non-League contest, with Fordham at Columbia in a showdown for New York City bragging rights, Lehigh at Liberty in a matchup of top 25 teams from recent seasons and Colgate at defending Big South champion Stony Brook.

Fordham heads to Lehigh in a Patriot League contest on Sept. 29, with the rest of the teams playing a non-League game that weekend. Four of the weekend games are against the Ivy League, including Holy Cross at Harvard on Sept. 28. The next two weeks bring multiple Patriot League games, with Georgetown at Fordham and Bucknell at Holy Cross on Oct. 6 followed by Lehigh at Georgetown and Holy Cross at Colgate on Oct. 13. The two weekends also feature the final four games against the Ivy League and Fordham's visit to Cincinnati.

Fifteen Patriot League games will be played over the final five weeks of the regular season, with three League contests each week beginning on Oct. 20. The regular-season champion receives the Patriot League's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs.

Television information and kickoff times will be announced at a later date.

Patriot League football teams are wrapping up spring practice sessions as they prepare for the 2012 season. Bucknell, Georgetown, Lafayette and Lehigh will all play their spring games on Saturday, while Colgate also finishes its spring practice this weekend. Fordham has its spring game on April 28, while Holy Cross already played its contest last week. For more information on spring game schedule, click here

For more information on all seven Patriot League football teams, including 2012 schedules and rosters as well as updates and prospectuses from the spring, visit Patriot League Football Spring Central. Updates can also be found throughout the spring and into the season at the Patriot League Football Twitter.