--Colorado State football fans, save the date: Aug 31, 2024.It was announced Friday the Rams will play Texas in the season opener for both teams at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, another "destination game" for fans scheduled by CSU athletic directorIn the recent past, the Rams have played at Alabama twice, Florida and will travel to Arkansas this season. Future schedules have the team playing at Oregon State and Vanderbilt in 2020, at Iowa (2021) and at Michigan and Washington State (2022). Further out, the football team will play at Vanderbilt again (2025), Texas Tech (2026) and Arizona (2028)."I think it's great for us any time you play a storied program like the University of Texas," CSU head coachsaid. "I think it's great for the university, our fan base and our players. It's an area we recruit, so anytime we can play a team like that I'm excited. If we want to get where we want to go, we can't shy away from playing those teams."This will be the second meeting between the two schools, with the Rams losing to the Longhorns 46-0 in 1975. That game was also played at Texas Memorial Stadium, which underwent a major renovation in 2009, and the south end zone area is set to undergo further renovations to be completed by the start of the 2021 season. It now stands as the largest stadium in the Big 12 Conference, the eighth largest in the United States, seating 100,119.Colorado State will earn a guaranteed payment of $1.8 million for the contest, matching the largest payout for the school for a road game (at Michigan) for a contest not part of a buyout agreement. CSU was paid $2 million for the trip to Florida as part of the Jim McElwain buyout upon his departure as CSU coach in 2014.Per the contract, Colorado State will be issued 300 complimentary tickets, with the right to purchase 2,700 more. It is the second game scheduled for that season, the other a meeting with Colorado at Canvas Stadium (Sept. 24).In meeting with Bobo's desire for a challenging schedule, Colorado State has all four non-conference games scheduled through 2021, playing three Power 5 teams in 2020, two in 2021. The Rams have two non-conference games scheduled with Power 5 teams each year between 2022-2026. The contracts with Arizona, Texas Tech, Washington State and Oregon State are all home-and-home deals; Vanderbilt is a four-game contract with two at each site.