FLORENCE, Ala. -- The University of North Alabama has finalized its 2018 football schedule that includes five home dates and six games against Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponents.The Lions will be in their first season of transition to FCS status in 2018 but will not compete as a member of the Big South Conference until 2019. That left UNA trying to fill a schedule as an independent for the upcoming season.North Alabama's 2018 schedule includes road games at Southern Utah, a 2017 FCS Playoff participant, and at defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State. The Lions other four road games are at Alabama A&M, at Campbell (N.C.), at Jackson State (Miss.) and at Incarnate Word (Texas).The six road trips combined will have the Lions traveling almost 5,000 miles this season.The 2018 season will be the first since 1959 where UNA has opened a year with three consecutive road games, and it will be just the second time in school history. The Lions will also be playing five opponents for the first time in school history in 2018.Second-year UNA head football coachsaid the 2018 schedule will be challenging."We're excited to have a finished schedule and we're excited about the team we're playing in 2018," said. "Moving up to the FCS being an independent next year made it challenging to get a schedule. We're very happy that we were able to get five home games and I'm sure our players will be excited about getting to travel to placed we don't normally play like Utah, North Dakota, North Carolina and Texas."We're excited to have Alabama A&M back on the schedule. That will be a great game for our fans," Willis said. "We're also playing North Dakota State, which is the Alabama of the FCS as the program everybody is chasing. And Southern Utah was a playoff team a year ago in the FCS and that will be a tough opener."UNA opens its 2018 season at Southern Utah on September 1 in Cedar City, Utah. The Thunderbirds went 9-3 a year ago, winning seven straight games before a loss in the FCS playoffs to Weber State. It will be UNA's first game ever against a team from the state of Utah.The following week, on September 8, the Lions will renew their rivalry with Alabama A&M in Huntsville. The Lions and Bulldogs have not met in football since 1997. UNA holds an 18-3-1 advantage in the all-time series and has won the last seven meetings. A&M is coming off a 4-7 season in 2017 but three of the losses were to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponents Alabama-Birmingham, Vanderbilt and South Alabama.On September 15 UNA will travel to Fargo,N.D., to face the six-time FCS National Chamopion Bison at the 19,000 seat Fargo Dome. NDSU went 14-1 in 2017 and defeated James Madison 17-13 in the FCS Championship Game. The only previous meeting between the Lions and Bison was in the 1985 NCAA Division II National Championship Game in McAllen, Texas, a game NDSU won 35-7.North Alabama will play its 2018 home opener at 6 p.m. Braly Stadium on September 22 against Azua Pacific from Azusa, Calif. A member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), Azusa Pacific posted a 7-4 record in 2017. It will mark UNA's first football game ever against a school from the state of California. The Lions have played other GNAC members in Western Oregon in 2014 and 2015 and Central Washington in 2017.The Lions return to the road on September 29 when they travel to Buies Creek, N.C., to face the Campbell Fighting Camels. Campbell is the only Big South Conference member that UNA will face in 2018. Campbell went 6-5 last season.After opening the season with four road contests in the first five games, the Lions will enjoy a two-game homestand on October 6 and 13 when they host West Florida and Mississippi College. Both games will kickoff at 6 p.m. West Florida is coming off an 11-4 mark in 2017 that saw the Argonauts reach the NCAA Division II National Championship game in just the second year of the UWF program's existence. Mississippi College was 1-9 last season.On October 20, UNA will travel to Jackson, Miss., to face Jackson State for the first time. The Tigers finished 3-8 last season but won three of their last four games. In December, JSU hired former Valdosta State and Kentucky head coach Hal Mumme as its offensive coordinator.North Alabama returns home on November 3 and 10 to host Shorter and North Greenville at Braly Stadium. The Shorter game will kickoff at 6 p.m. and the North Greenville comtest at 1:30. Shorter was 0-11 last season, including a 48-0 loss to UNA in Rome, Ga. North Greenville was 4-6 last season after advancing to the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 2016 and facing UNA in the quarterfinal round. The Lions won that contest 38-0 at Braly Stadium and are 4-0 all-time against North Greenville.The Lions will close out their 2018 season in San Antonio, Texas against Incarnate Word on November 17. A member of the Southland Conference, Incarnate Word was 1-10 last season. UNA has won its last four games played in the state of Texas, defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1996, Abilene Christian in 2009, Kingsville again in 2012 and Tarleton State in 2013.