Bryant Schedules Their Biggest Game Ever
The Bulldogs make a rare intersectional trip in 2024 and here’s why it’s exciting.
This week, UNLV announced a pair of home games with FCS schools. One school was a school in the same general region, Utah Tech, or the school formerly known as “Dixie State”, while the other was a complete shock.
Surprisingly, UNLV also scheduled Rhode Island’s Bryant University to open their season in 2024. This matchup is arguably one of the most random in recent memory due to a variety of factors. The first factor is the distance between the two schools.
Smithfield, RI, the home of Bryant University is a whopping 2,705 miles away from Allegiant Stadium, the biggest road trip in Bryant history. The previous record-holder was a trip to Bozeman, Montana to play Montana State in 2016 that was a 2,354 mile trek. This comes in conjunction with Bryant’s surprising move to the Big South earlier this year. With the Big South’s alliance with the OVC, Bryant will begin to play a more national schedule, something that will broaden the program’s recruiting pool significantly.
Additionally, it will be only Bryant’s third game against an FBS opponent. Bryant played their first game against an FBS school this past season when they lost to Akron. The Bulldogs actually entered the fourth quarter tied with the Zips, before giving up three touchdowns and losing 35-14. Their second FBS game comes this season against FIU.
So, why is this the biggest game in Bryant’s history? After all, it is just UNLV right? Well, while the Bulldogs are improving, especially after a 7-4 record this past season, they have never come particularly close to making the FCS playoffs. In the pandemic Spring season of 2021, they were in contention to make the NEC title game but faded away.
While UNLV does not have much pedigree themselves, they do play in one of the NFL’s most state-of-the-art venues in Allegiant Stadium. This will be by far the most prominent venue Bryant has played in. In the 22 seasons of Bryant football, they have never played in an NFL stadium.
Arguably, the most prestigious stadiums they have played in were Bucknell’s Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium and Brown’s Brown Stadium, opened in 1924 and 1925, respectively. This game is an experience over two decades in the making, and on top of that, it gives Ocean Staters a rare excuse to visit Las Vegas.
While the Bryant-UNLV game is two years away, it has lots of intrigue already. If Bulldog fans represent the program in hordes, Bryant may make intersectional trips like this a more common occurrence.