2025 Slippery Rock Schedule

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University football program has announced a schedule change for the opening week of the 2025 season and will now play on the road at Franklin Pierce University Sept. 5.
 
The Rock were originally scheduled to continue a home-and-home series against the University of New Haven on the road in Connecticut to open the 2025 season, but dropped that game after the Chargers recently announced a decision to move to the Division I level.
 
"We had a great rivalry brewing with New Haven and we had some competitive games during the regular season and in the playoffs," said SRU head coach Shawn Lutz. "Unfortunately, their move to Division I would have left us with only nine Division II games and we feel like we need to play 10 games in our own division. We're happy to add Franklin Pierce to the schedule and we look forward to playing a new opponent and visiting the FPU campus for the first time in the fall."
 
Slippery Rock will now meet Franklin Pierce in Rindge, New Hampshire to open the season Friday evening, Sept. 5 with kickoff set for 6 p.m. It will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools in football.
 
The Ravens began playing the sport of sprint football in 2012 and played the weight-restricted version of the sport through 2017 before transitioning to the Division II level in 2018. They played their first season of Division II football in the Northeast 10 Conference in 2019.
 
Franklin Pierce is coming off the best season in its short program history after going 5-5 overall and 5-3 in NE10 competition in 2024. That included a double overtime win against traditional NE10 power Assumption and a close, 45-34 loss to NE10 champion New Haven.
 
Slippery Rock went 12-2 in 2024 on the way to finishing the year ranked No. 3 in the final Division II national polls. The Rock reached the NCAA semifinals and fell 48-38 on the road to national champion Ferris State in the semifinals to close out a sixth straight trip to the national playoffs, which marks the second longest active playoff streak in the country.
 
After a trip to New Hampshire Sept. 5, Slippery Rock will return home for three consecutive night games at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium with Shepherd (Sept. 13), Shippensburg (Sept. 20) and California (Sept. 27) coming to town. A full look at the 2025 schedule is available HERE.
 
 


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