Savannah State to play Florida State In football in 2012

SAVANNAH, Georgia -- Say what you will about Savannah State football, the program’s not shy about scheduling the big boys. The Tigers announced Wednesday they’ll be playing Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., on Sept. 8 for their second game of the 2012 season.

SSU is opening in Stillwater, Okla., against Oklahoma State on Sept. 1.  “It’s probably the toughest first two games in college football,” Tigers coach Steve Davenport said.

It’s probably the richest two weeks for a Football Championship Subdivision team as well. Savannah State is guaranteed $475,000 for the date with the Seminoles. The Tigers are pocketing $385,000 for the Oklahoma State game. “The infusion of cash will help us build up our (athletic) programs,” SSU athletics director Sterling Steward said.



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The FSU Seminoles will play Savannah State at home in place of West Virginia

Tallahassee, Florida. - Florida State officials announced Wednesday that Savannah State will replace West Virginia on the 2012 home schedule. The Seminoles were contracted to play the Mountaineers on September 8th in Tallahassee, but West Virginia notified FSU on February 3 that they would not honor the commitment leaving Florida State with little time and few options to replace the home game.

"West Virginia's announcement at the 11th hour really put us in a very difficult position," said FSU Director of Athletics Randy Spetman. "We contacted every BCS school that had an opening in hopes of replacing WVU with a BCS opponent, but none of those few schools could make it work either because of our dates or theirs. It is important for our fans to realize that the schools we contacted during the search did not pass on the 2012 game out of concern for the competition, but because of challenges they faced with schedule changes this late in the year.

"We worked with Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Cincinnati, Syracuse and Pitt to name a few along with our current non-conference opponents and television partners, but reached a point where our options simply dried up. We might have been able to play on the road at some BCS schools this season, but that would cost our fans and the university one of just seven chances to play a home game and also would have a negative impact on our local economy."

Florida State will play Savannah State on September 8th and the entire 2012 schedule will be released shortly by the ACC. Savannah State will receive a guarantee of $475,000 to play the game.

"I know our administration was frustrated by West Virginia's decision and I can tell all our fans that we've done everything we could to explore all the options for a home game," said head coach Jimbo Fisher. "I believe the plans are for the ACC to go to a nine-game conference schedule once Pitt and Syracuse begin play. With Florida always on the schedule, it will leave us just two non-conference games every year so scheduling BCS teams will be more challenging from here on out for everybody."

Florida State has previously announced the dates for 2012 non-conference games against Murray State (September 1), South Florida (September 29 in Tampa) and Florida (November 24). Season tickets for 2012 are $321 each, which is a savings of thirteen percent over the purchase price of single game tickets if they are available. The single game ticket price for the Savannah State game will be $40.00.