Prairie View will take the field 11 times this season, two of which will be classics. The 2005 schedule, announced by athletics director Charles McClelland, will feature six games inside the state of Texas, four of which will be played at Blackshear Field, home of the Panthers.”With the mandated nine-game conference schedule instituted by the SWAC, our 2005 schedule will highlight all of our SWAC contests counting as conference games,” said McClelland. “It will make the level of importance of these games critical.”
Prairie View will begin the season on September 4 against archrival Texas Southern in the 21st annual Labor Day Classic at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
Following the Labor Day Classic, the Panthers will play host to Paul Quinn College on September 10 before embarking on a five-game road stand that spans more than a month.
The Panthers return to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the first time since 2001 to face Southern University on September 17.
Following a bye week, the Panthers will travel to Dallas, Texas for the annual State Fair Classic to face Grambling State on October 1.
On October 8, Prairie View travels to Mississippi to square off against the Alcorn State Braves followed by a trip to Montgomery, Alabama to take on the defending SWAC champions, Alabama State, on October 15.
Prairie View closes out the road swing with a journey to Jefferson City, Missouri for an October 22 contest against Lincoln University.
“Playing those four games on the road is going to be a difficult stretch,” McClelland said. “I believe that by playing Southern, Grambling, Alcorn State and Alabama State in consecutive weeks on the road will definitely test our mettle and the outcome will define our season.”
After the road swing, the Panthers will return home to face Mississippi Valley State in a homecoming match-up on October 29.
After homecoming, Prairie View will travel to Pine Bluff, Arkansas to face the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions on November 5.
The Panthers conclude their season with the last two games being held at Blackshear Field.
On November 12, the Panthers take on Jackson State University on “Sports Hall of Fame Day” and close out the season against Alabama A&M on November 19 with Senior Day.
“With this year’s schedule being the same as last year’s, it gives us the edge in familiarity with the teams,” said second-year head coach Henry Frazier III. “We recruited some definite impact players, many of whom will be able to step in and contribute immediately for us. We got most of the student-athletes that we wanted to bring into our program, so we are going to be looking to improve on the number of wins from last year.