Shaw University announced changes to its 2024 football schedule on Thursday afternoon. The schedule alterations were due to Saint Augustine’s decision earlier this spring not to field a football team in 2024.
🚨 Schedule Update 🚨
We’ve added ECSU Week Zero.
Shaw vs Albany State is now Sep. 7Season ticket info will be available soon!!!#BearWithUs | #ShawU pic.twitter.com/4DQG7QG6Z0
— Shaw Athletics (@ShawBears) May 16, 2024
The Bears will now face Elizabeth City State in a Week Zero matchup. Shaw has won seven of its last 10 meetings with the Vikings and the last three contests, including squeezing out a 20-17 win last season.
Shaw’s Sept. 5 matchup with Albany State, originally scheduled as the Golden Rams’ home opener, has been moved to Sept. 7. This will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1977.
The following two weeks, September 14 and September 21, are back-to-back home games against Catawba College and Lincoln (PA). Shaw last met Catawba in 2010, and the Indians defeated the Bears 32-21 while handily besting Lincoln 41-6 in their last meeting in 2021.
Virginia Union is next on September 28. The Panthers defeated the Bears 16-13 last season. The Bears return home to face Bluefield State, which returned to the CIAA after leaving the league in 1955.
The Bears hit the road for the subsequent three games, facing Winston-Salem State on October 12, Johnson C. Smith on October 19, and Fayetteville State on October 26. Shaw went a combined 1-2 against the conference foes last season, the lone victory being a 21-10 defeat of JCSU.
The Bears end their regular season with a Homecoming matchup against Livingstone. Last year, Livingstone edged Shaw 27-26, losing on a touchdown pass as time expired.
Shaw finished the 2023 campaign 3-7 and 2-5 in the CIAA. The Bears are seeking their first winning season since going 6-4 and 5-2 in the conference in 2021.