The Lindenwood Lions just announced they will play Kansas in the football season opener in 2024. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. CHARLES, MO — The Lindenwood University athletics program announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the University of Kansas for the schools’ two football programs to play one another in at least one a future matchup.

The teams will definitely play on August 31, 2024. That will be that year’s season opener for both teams, with Lindenwood heading to Lawrence, Kan., to play the Jayhawks.

This is the first FBS game Lindenwood has agreed to in program history. In order to reach an agreement to play an FBS opponent, Lindenwood has to meet a minimum scholarship number for two years. The Lions are on track to meet the requirements needed to play an FBS game in 2024.

“Today is an exciting day for our football program, future Lions, and our entire University,” Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart said. “We’re excited about the upcoming challenge of going to Lawrence to play a good Kansas team. I have a lot of respect for Coach (Lance) Leipold, and watching what he’s done at Kansas is incredible.

“Since we’ve been here at Lindenwood, we’ve had a mindset that we’ll play anyone and anywhere. When we were Division II, we played top Division I FCS programs. Now that we are at this new level, we are keeping that same mentality and going to play teams from Power 5 conferences. We are building something special here at Lindenwood and we are going to keep knocking down doors.”

Lindenwood is in its first season as an NCAA Division I FCS team, and has held its own, with wins in two of its first three games.

The Lions will be hosting their first Division I game this Saturday, when new Ohio Valley Conference rival, Southeast Missouri State, will come to Hunter Stadium, for what should be an intense matchup that is already being billed as the “Game Ball Brawl”.

“We are very excited to be able to get this game on the schedule as 2024 marks the first season we are able to add an FBS opponent to our lineup,” Lindenwood Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Jason Coomer said. “With football scheduling completed years in advance, we were very pleased to be able to work with our colleagues at KU to make the game a reality.”

The Jayhawks are off to a 4-0 start this season, the first time since 2009. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

Lindenwood sports information contributed to this story.