REDLANDS, Calif. - The University of Redlands Football team reported Wednesday and along with that came the schedule preview announced by Head Coach Jim Good. The Bulldogs open their 2023 season at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) on Saturday, September 2 at 1:00 p.m.
This season the Bulldogs will play nine regular season games with a tenth as part of the new Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason. The schedule features four home games and another five on the road. After playing three non-conference games a year, they will play two, one home and one road with seven SCIAC contests, three home and four away. The change in the schedule is due to Whittier College's decision to drop their program.
The Bulldogs and Lutes are playing for only the third time and the first time since 2013 with PLU holding a 2-0 all-time advantage. PLU went 6-4 in 2022 with wins over the University of La Verne and a three-point loss to California Lutheran University (CLU). Two of their four losses came to ranked teams, No. 13 Bethel University and No. 6 Linfield University.
Following a bye week in week 2 Redlands will have their 2023 home opener against Linfield University on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 7:00 p.m. inside Ted Runner Stadium. The Wildcats are ranked No. 7 in the D3football.com preseason Top-25 after finishing 2022 10-1 with their lone loss coming in the second round of the NCAA Division III National Championships.
These two programs have played 12 times with the two facing off in a non-conference regular season game in McMinnville, Oregon last year where the Bulldogs lost 21-3. Redlands has lost the last three matchups against the Wildcats with their only win coming in 2019 when they won at home 27-19.
SCIAC play will commence in the third game of the season with a road trip to Chapman University on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 7:00 p.m. The Panthers went 7-3 overall and finished third in SCIAC at 4-2 a year ago. The Bulldogs lost their game in Orange last season 38-28. Dating back to 2015 the home team has won every game with the last road wins coming by Chapman in 2014 and Redlands in 2013.
Redlands will close out September with their third road game as they travel to play ULV on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 1:00 p.m. The Leopards were 2-7, 2-4 SCIAC last season. The Bulldogs beat the Leopards 36-19 at Ted Runner in 2022. The Bulldogs will take a six-game winning streak into La Verne.
The Bulldogs have a favorable home schedule in October when they play three of their four games inside Ted Runner with the first one at home against the defending SCIAC Regular Season Champions Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7:00 p.m. The Sagehens went 8-3 and tied Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) at 5-1 in SCIAC. The Bulldogs came-from-behind last season to beat the Sagehens 27-24 in overtime after they trailed 21-0 in the second half. Earlier in the season Redlands dropped a non-conference road game 21-20 in September to PP. That loss was the first dating back to 2002 as they had won 19-straight.
A week later the Bulldogs will host CLU for the annual Smudge Pot Trophy on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 7:00 p.m. The Bulldogs won their first game of 2022, 35-14, against the Kinsmen as they extended their series-winning streak to nine. CLU finished sixth in SCIAC at 3-7, 1-5 SCIAC.
The lone road game of October will be at Claremont-M-S on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 1:00 p.m. The Bulldogs lost 25-21 at home in a non-conference game and then 42-0 on the road in SCIAC competition in 2022. Prior to last season Redlands had won two in-a-row with their last loss coming in 2018. The Stags tied Pomona-Pitzer at 5-1 but lost the head-to-head game for the tiebreaker and overall they were 7-2.
The final game of the month is senior night and will be at home against La Verne for their second SCIAC matchup of the season. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28.
The regular season finale is November 4 at 7:00 p.m. at Pomona-Pitzer. A week later is the SCIAC Tournament Game. The opponent and the host school will be determined by the standings and all six teams will participate with the top two teams playing each other for the automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Championships.