ENMU to Open 2005 Season against Central Arkansas at 53,727-Seat War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock

2005 ENMU Football Schedule

PORTALES, N.M. — The Eastern New Mexico University football team will open the 2005 season by playing in the largest stadium in school history when the Greyhounds take on the University of Central Arkansas at the 53,727-seat War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark. The game will take place on the earliest date in school history, as ENMU and UCA will open the 2005 season on Thursday, Aug. 25, the first permissible date under NCAA Division II rules.

The ENMU/UCA game will be a rematch of last fall’s exciting 38-31 win for the Bears, in which ENMU nearly rallied from a 21-0 deficit late in the first half. More importantly, the game will be a benefit for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.

Eastern’s game at War Memorial Stadium highlights an 11-game schedule. The Greyhounds will play five games at Greyhound Stadium and six games on the road.

The home schedule includes LSC crossover games against Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Sept. 3) and East Central University (Sept. 17), plus LSC South Division games with Angelo State University (Oct. 1), Tarleton State University (Oct. 15) and Midwestern State University (Oct. 29). Homecoming will be against Angelo State, with the game kicking off at 6 p.m. MST instead of a traditional mid-afternoon start. Tarleton State replaces Texas A&M University-Commerce, which is making a permanent move to the LSC North, while TSU returns to the LSC South.

ENMU will have three lengthy road trips — to Central Arkansas for the season-opener, to Texas A&M University-Kingsville on Oct. 22 and to Western New Mexico University on Nov. 5. Two trips of about five hours each will be taken to Southwestern Oklahoma State University on Sept. 10 and to Abilene Christian University on Sept. 24. The shortest trip of the season will be about a two-hour ride to Canyon, Texas, to take on West Texas A&M University on Oct. 8.

With the change of Homecoming to an evening kickoff, all of Eastern’s home games will be played at night. The Greyhounds will play four road games at night as well, with the games at ACU (1 p.m. MST) and Western New Mexico (1 p.m. MST) scheduled for afternoon starts.

The ENMU football team will be after its eighth consecutive winning season. In 2004, the
Greyhounds achieved an overall record of 6-5, including 4-2 in the LSC South (third place). Mark Ribaudo, who will be in his first season as head coach, was Eastern’s defensive coordinator the past eight years.