Game 1: Lincoln (0-0, 0-0 MIAA) at Washburn (0-0, 0-0 MIAA)
Date/Time: Thursday, Sept. 1 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Stadium (Capacity): Yager Stadium (7,200)
Tickets: Available online at https://wutickets.universitytickets.com/
Streaming: https://themiaanetwork.com/lubluetigers/
Live Stats: https://wusports.com/sidearmstats/football/
Series: WU leads, 8-0

THE KICKOFF 
A new era of Blue Tiger football kicks off on Thursday night (Sept. 1) as Lincoln travels to Topeka, Kan. to play Washburn in a 6:00 p.m. CDT contest. It will be the first game for LU under new head coach Jermaine Gales, as well as the first opportunity for over 60 new members of the Blue Tigers to compete in the MIAA.

Lincoln will face a full slate of MIAA opponents in 2022, as LU takes on a different conference opponent each of the next 11 weeks. The Blue Tigers will get their first chance to play at home on Saturday, Sept. 10, when Lincoln hosts Northwest Missouri at 2:00 p.m. CDT.

The Blue Tigers posted a 0-10 record in 2021 while Washburn is coming off a 9-3 season.

QUICK HITS 
- Lincoln and Washburn will meet on Thursday for the ninth time in a series that dates back to 1989. The Ichabods have won each of the past meetings, including beating Lincoln, 76-12, in Jefferson City in 2021.

- This marks the third time in the past four years that Lincoln will open its season against Washburn, and the second time in that span that LU has played a season-opener in Topeka. The last time Lincoln played at Washburn, in 2019, the contest was tied at 21 at halftime before WU pulled away in the second half for a 49-27 victory.

- A win for Lincoln would be its first in a season opener since 2018, when the Blue Tigers beat Lane at a neutral site in Memphis, Tenn., 10-7.

- A victory over the Ichabods would be LU's first season-opening win in a true road game since beating Langston, 35-32, in the first contest of 2015.

- Lincoln is seeking its first conference road win since beating William Jewell, 23-14, as a GLVC program on Oct. 20, 2018.

- A victory for Lincoln would be its first against an MIAA opponent since beating Northeastern State at home in 2019, and its first road win over an MIAA program since defeating Central Missouri, 20-7, in 1975.

- The Blue Tigers enter this season with an all-time record of 261-474-25.

- Jermaine Gales was named the head coach of the Blue Tigers in the fall of 2021, and is in his first season leading the Blue Tigers. He enters the week with an overall and LU record of 0-0.

- Lincoln is in its third-consecutive year, and its 26th overall as a football-playing member of the MIAA. The Blue Tigers, who were an associate member of the GLVC from 2014-18, previously played in the MIAA from 1970-89 and again from 2011-13. The MIAA is the fifth different conference in which the Blue Tigers have been a member, joining the Midwest Athletic Association, the Great Lakes Football Conference, the Central States Football League and the GLVC.

- This is the 91st season of Lincoln football. The Blue Tigers first fielded a team in 1920 and played every year until 1943, when Lincoln took a year off due to World War II. LU then played each season from 1944-1989. The football program was disbanded at that point, but was brought back in 2000.