New names await Blazers football in 2025

Published 11:56 am Thursday, July 10, 2025

VALDOSTA — A schedule shakeup from 2024 brings in new opponents for the Valdosta State Blazers on the football field in October, including a Division I opponent.

Enter The Citadel to the schedule for new Blazers head coach Graham Craig.

The Bulldogs are a Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent, members of the Southern Conference.

This will be the first time, VSU has played The Citadel in football. The Charleston, South Carolina, school has a long history of the gridiron sport, dating back to 1905. Despite this history, the Bulldogs have only won four conference championships over the years, the last in 2016. That was also the last time the school made the FCS playoffs.

The Citadel went 5-7 in 2024, 3-5 in the Southern Conference. Though they have not previously played, the two shared an opponent last year in North Greenville. VSU won 32-24 while the Bulldogs won 54-0.

While The Citadel is the largest of Valdosta State’s new opponents for this year, it is not the only one.

Valdosta State travels to Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 6. UNC Pembroke comes to Bazemore-Hyder Stadium on Sept. 27.

UNC Pembroke is a member of Conference Carolinas. Johnson C. Smith, an HBCU, is a member of the CIAA.

The Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith went 8-2 last year and won their first eight games of the year. Losses to Fayetteville State and Livingstone College knocked them out of the Division II playoffs picture.

UNC Pembroke was a 6-5 team a season ago when they were members of the Mountain East Conference. Amazingly, both of these schools shared an opponent with the Blazers — Fayetteville State. Like Johnson C. Smith, UNC Pembroke fell to them while it was a blowout win for VSU.

A counter on Valdosta State’s websites indicates today marks 50 days from first kickoff of the year.

The Blazers will take the field Aug. 30 at the Week Zero Labor Day Classic in Birmingham, Alabama. Their opponent is Clark Atlanta, a school VSU has not played in so long, they are practically new.

VSU is 3-0 versus Clark Atlanta. The last game was in 1994, during the Hal Mumme era. It will be nearly a month after the CAU game that the Blazers come home. They have back-to-back trips to North Carolina for Johnson C. Smith and Chowan. UNC Pembroke will be the first home game of the year.