Centenary College of Louisiana will be taking the field for an official football game this year, it will be the first time since 1947.

The Centenary Gents football program has a lengthy history, which includes victories over LSU, Texas A&M, TCU, Ole Miss, and Texas. They have had All American players, and the program has produced a Pro Football and College Football Hall of Fame member, while also setting numerous NCAA records.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Centenary program traveled the nation to play some of the biggest names in the sport. Playing at Purdue, Iowa, Boston College, and LSU.

However, the team struggled to keep a program together during World War II, and they weren't able to keep things after the war, and shut the team down after 1947. Although suggestions had been made to revive the program over the following decades, nothing really became serious until the last couple of years.

It was announced in 2021 that the football program would actually return to the field. But it would come back under some different parameters than they had the last time they played an official game.

The Gents will now play Division 3 (or D3) football in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). Their games will take place a Mayo Field on the school's campus, next to the Gold Dome. Here's what their 2024 schedule will look like:

Sept. 7 vs Hendrix (7 p.m.)
Sept. 14 at Texas Lutheran^ (6 p.m.)
Sept. 21 at Austin^ (6 p.m.)
Sept. 28 at ETBU (6 p.m.)
Oct. 5 vs Lyon^ (6 p.m.)
Oct. 12 vs McMurry^ (5 p.m.)
Oct. 19 at Lyon^ (1 p.m.)
Oct. 26 vs Austin^ (6 p.m.)
Nov. 9 vs Texas Lutheran^ (1 p.m.)
Nov. 16 at McMurry^ (1 p.m.)

^SCAC Game

During the SCAC media days, the league's head coaches predicted who would win the division. McMurry ended up being picked as the top team in the conference, but Centenary was predicted to finish 3rd in their first season.

You can see Centenary Coach Byron Dawson talk about the team during SCAC Media Days here:

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