Duquesne has a number of FBS games scheduled for the coming years, the most notable being a trip to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on the Florida State Seminoles.
This fall, Duquesne will take on TCU and Ohio University in back to back weeks to start the season. For the 2022 campaign, Duquesne has scheduled the FSU match up, along with a date against Hawaii in a rematch of 2018. As for 2023, the Dukes have slated a game against West Virginia for Sept. 9.
While discussing this onslaught of FBS opponents, head coach Jerry Schmitt kept coming back to one word: opportunity.
“We just continue to develop our program to try to get better each and every year, and continue to give our players opportunities to get better,” Schmitt said. “Obviously, when you play those kinds of programs and the talent at those levels, it requires our players to try to be as good as they can be. Those games are huge challenges. They’re great opportunities for our young men to be able to play in those stadiums against those great programs.”
Schmitt says that no matter the opponent, each game is ‘the biggest game of the year’.
“We don’t look down the road,” he said. “We don’t look back. And so, we approach it with that same philosophy, but obviously we understand there’s a different level that we’ll be playing from our conference to an FBS conference.”
The last season the Dukes played an FBS school was 2018, when they played UMass and Hawaii. Duquesne was scheduled to play Air Force and Coastal Carolina this past fall.
When asked about the potential of facing Pitt, Schmitt said he’s sure there has been conversations, especially now that they have an ACC team scheduled, but is unaware how far they have gone.
Duquesne will open the four-game spring season at home against Sacred Heart on March 7.
