ASU sets its 2021 football schedule

The full schedule for Arkansas State University’s 2021 football season — featuring a season-opener against the University of Central Arkansas and a pair of Thursday night Sun Belt Conference home games — was announced Monday.

The Red Wolves will return in the fall under the new leadership of Coach Butch Jones, who replaced former ASU coach Blake Anderson following three seasons as an assistant at the University of Alabama. Anderson’s seventh and final season in 2020 saw the Red Wolves finish 4-7 and without a bowl appearance for the first time since 2010.

Jones’ aim of leading ASU back to a bowl game in 2021 will begin with a four-game nonconference schedule in the month of September, beginning with a fourth-ever meeting against UCA on Sept. 4 at

Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro. The Red Wolves will again play host on Sept. 11 when they face Memphis for a second consecutive season. ASU played the Tigers last September for the first time since 2013, falling 37-24 at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Sept. 5, 2020.

The Red Wolves finish their nonconference schedule on the road, traveling to Pac12 power Washington on Sept. 18 and closing at Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane in their second meeting since 2003.

In the Sun Belt, where ASU went 2-6 and finished in fifth place of the West Division in 2020, the Red Wolves open at Georgia Southern on Oct. 2 before returning home for a pair of Thursday games against last season’s conference finalists. Reigning East Division champion Coastal Carolina visits Jonesboro on Oct. 7, followed after an open week (Oct. 16) by West winner Louisiana-Lafayette on Oct. 21.

ASU will play two more home games, including a Nov. 6 meeting with Appalachian State after the Red Wolves’ Oct. 30 trip the South Alabama. Jones’ team will travel again to Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 13 and Georgia State on Nov. 20, before returning to Centennial Bank Stadium to close the season against Texas State.

Jones