Tommies host Cougars to kick off 2024 season - The University of St. Thomas (2024)

St. Thomas enters with a 36-0 record at home since 2016

ST. PAUL, MINN. – The wait is finally over. After months of preparation, excitement and anticipation, it's time for the University of St. Thomas football team to officially kick off its 2024 season. For the first time in the DI era, the Tommies will play on a Thursday night in August, as they host the University of Sioux Falls in their home and season opener tomorrow night.

There may be more on the line than football fans realize when St. Thomas takes O'Shaughnessy Field at 6:04 p.m. on Thursday evening. The Tommies enter riding the longest home field winning streaking in the NCAA, having won 31 consecutive games at O'Shaughnessy Stadium. Thanks to losses by Clemson and Cincinnati in 2022, that counts as the longest home win streak at any level of college football, including NCAA Division I FBS, FCS, Division II and Division III. Additionally, St. Thomas has never lost a home opener in the Glenn Caruso era. In fact, since Caruso took over the program in 2008, the Tommies are 15-0 in home openers and 15-1 in season openers, with their lone loss coming on the road at Southern Utah in 2022.

Tickets are still available for Thursday's contest and can be purchased online at www.tommiesports.com/tickets. Fans who are unable to attend in person can now watch St. Thomas football through Midco Sports Plus and the Midco Sports Plus App. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas football games along with exclusive Tommie and Pioneer Football League (PFL) content, including replays, highlights, interviews, and special feature stories. Subscriptions cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 for an annual plan. Fans can also listen to the call on 1500 ESPN and the Varsity Network App, and follow Live Stats on TommieSports.com.

PREGAME FESTIVITIES: St. Thomas will once again host Purple in the Plaza before all home games in 2024. Due to pending weather and storms in the Twin Cities, Purple in the Plaza will open at 4:00 p.m. at Scooter's, located in the Anderson Student Center, across from the AARC.

OPENING KICK: St. Thomas will open its fourth season of Division I at home, welcoming the University of Sioux Falls for its first game of 2024. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:04 p.m. at O'Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota.

THE OPPOSITION: Sioux Falls is a household name in both the NAIA and Division II, finding plenty of success on the gridiron over the last 30 years. The Cougars posted 29 consecutive winning seasons from 1993 to 2022, dominating both the NAIA and the NSIC. Sioux Falls was an NAIA powerhouse, winning four national championships from from 1996 to 2009, including back-to-back championships in 2008 and 2009. In 2012, the Coo made the jump from NAIA to Division II and found an equal amount of success, winning a conference title in 2016 and making two NCAA tournament appearances.

HAPPY 120th!: Thursday will kickoff the 120th season of Tommie football, according to available records. St. Thomas played its first intercollegiate football game in 1904 and won its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) title in 1922. Since then, the Tommies have won 22 total conference titles, including their first Pioneer Football League (PFL) title in 2022.

WORKING ON OUR NIGHT MOVES: Thursday will be a night of firsts for St. Thomas football. It will be the first night game of the Division I era, and the first August home football game in the history of the program (according to available records). St. Thomas wasn't allowed to play before Labor Day during the Division III era, and the first overall night game in the Division I era was played at Southern Utah on September 1, 2022.

TOP-3 EXPECTATIONS: For the third consecutive season, the Tommies are expected to finish top-3 in the Pioneer Football League (PFL) standings. St. Thomas was picked to finish second, receiving 87 total votes, including one first place vote, from the PFL coaches. Since joining the conference in 2021, the Tommies have only lost three games in PFL, going undefeated in 2022 and losing just one game to Drake in 2023.

NINE IS JUST FINE: The Tommies saw nine student-athletes receive Preseason All-Conference honors, either from the PFL or Phil Steele. Seniors Hope Adebayo and Alec Rasmussen were the only two players named to both teams, as they both garnered First Team honors from the PFL and Phil Steele.

First Team All-Conference honorees:
Hope Adebayo (PFL, Phil Steele)
Alec Rasmussen (PFL, Phil Steele)
Luke Herzog (Phil Steele)

Second Team All-Conference honorees:
Langston Robinson (Phil Steele)
Brock Stanek (Phil Steele)

Third Team All-Conference honorees:
Landon Reed (Phil Steele)
Matthew Rink (Phil Steele)
Nick Hand (Phil Steele)
CJ Warren (Phil Steele)

HOME SWEET HOME: Thanks to home losses by Clemson and Cincinnati, the Tommies enter the 2024 season with the longest home win streak at any level of college football. St. Thomas has won 31 consecutive games at O'Shaughnessy Field and has not lost on its home field since December 3, 2016. More impressively, the Tommies have won 42 consecutive regular season games at O'Shaughnessy Stadium dating back to October 2014.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: According to St. Thomas historian and former Sports Information Director Gene McGivern, O'Shaughnessy Stadium was the first upper Midwest stadium to install lights in the 1930s. Because of this, several night games were played from 1930 to the 1970s, all on Saturday nights. St. Thomas also played several night games at the Metrodome in the 1980s and 1990s when the MIAC held an annual November showcase to close the season.

COYOTE CONNECTION: Both Glenn Caruso and Jim Glogowski made stops in Vermillion, South Dakota during their coaching careers. In fact, the two were on the Coyotes staff during the 2004 season, when the team posted a 9-2 record, including a 6-0 mark at home. As the offensive coordinator, Caruso helped South Dakota average 38 points per game and score over 40 six times. Glogowski was also an assistant for the Coyotes from 2004 to 2007, helping South Dakota post a 33-13 record with two NCAA Division II tournament appearances.

ONCE IN A PURPLE MOON: Since Caruso took over in 2008, the Tommies have played six total night games. In addition to the 2022 game at Southern Utah, St. Thomas played night games against UW-Eau Claire (2019), Hamline (2018) and UW-River Falls (2013) in the regular season. The Tommies also played in the 2012 and 2015 Stagg Bowl, and both games were played at a neutral site field with 7:00 p.m. starts. Caruso is 2-4 all-time in night games with St. Thomas.

ROLL TIDE / ROLL TOMS / ROLL COU?: Current Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer got his start in college football at Sioux Falls. DeBoer played football and baseball for the Cougars from 1993-1997, earning All-America honors for football. After graduating from the university, DeBoer took over as the head coach in 2005 after serving as the offensive coordinator for four seasons. In his four seasons with the Coo, DeBoar posted an overall record of 67-3 and led the team to three NAIA championships in 2006, 2008 and 2009.