PENSACOLA, Fla. — The University of West Florida Argonauts are playing their first football game since stepping up to Division I.
The UWF President Manny Diaz Jr. said all students tickets are sold out. Lots of fans are gearing up for that big game Thursday night.
The Argos are taking the field for the first time as a Division I team. The transition comes as the team has had recent success in Division II.
In fact, the Argos secured the Division II national championship in 2019. The team announced the transition to D-I in April.
The move came with a $2 million entry fee. Diaz says there’s a ton of excitement across the student body.
“A lot of people I talked to says it feels like when they started football, right, ten years ago, when they had the first game.” said Diaz. “So that excitement will carry over onto the field and into our athletic program. So we’ll continue to see that support across the board.”
UWF is playing Southern Illinois.