Football | 2/17/2016 1:52:00 PM

ABILENE – When ACU announced its move to NCAA Division I affiliation and the Southland Conference more than three years ago, the re-classification certainly had a number of ripple effects, not the least of which is that it gave the program a chance to measure itself against the best that intercollegiate athletics has to offer.The ACU football program will certainly get a chance to measure itself against some of the top teams in the country over the next six seasons as they'll take on two members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), one from the Big 12, three from the Mountain West Conference, one from Conference USA and one from the American Athletic Conference between 2016 and 2021.Highlighting the future schedules are games against Baylor (2018) and a newly added game at Texas A&M (2020). ACU director of athletics Lee De Leon added the game against the Aggies, as well as games against Colorado State (2017), Mississippi State (2019) and SMU (2021)."These games will give us a great opportunity to showcase our brand, our university and our football program on a national stage," De Leon said. "Certainly these will be extremely tough tests for everyone in our program, but I believe our coaches will be able to use the experience of playing against those teams on the recruiting trail and attract great student-athletes."The Wildcats will open the 2016 season on Sept. 3 in Colorado Spring, Colo., against the Falcons of the Air Force Academy. ACU will be on the road for the first two games of the 2017 season: at New Mexico on Sept. 2, and then at Colorado State on Sept. 9 in the first game in the Rams' new on-campus stadium. The next week, the Wildcats are scheduled to open their new on-campus stadium against Houston Baptist in a Southland Conference game.The Wildcats will be in Waco on Sept. 1, 2018, to take on the Baylor Bears at McLane Stadium, the only non-conference game so far on the 2018 schedule. In 2019, the Wildcats will open the season on Aug. 31 in Denton against old foe North Texas before taking a break from Southland Conference play on Oct. 12 to travel to Starkville, Miss., and take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs of the SEC.ACU's two non-conference games in 2020 and 2021 will be closer to home as it will take on the Aggies at Kyle Field in College Station on Nov. 21, 2020, and the Mustangs at Ford Stadium in Dallas on Sept. 4, 2021.The Wildcats are 8-14-1 all-time against the Eagles of North Texas, but have lost seven straight games to UNT. ACU's last win over North Texas was a 20-6 win on Nov. 2, 1963, in Denton. ACU is 0-1 all-time against SMU with a 52-7 loss to the Mustangs on Oct. 3, 1925, in Dallas.– at Air Force– at New Mexico (Sept. 2, 2017); at Colorado State (Sept. 9, 2017)– at Baylor (Sept. 1, 2018)– at North Texas (Aug. 31, 2019); at Mississippi State (Oct. 12, 2019)– at Texas A&M (Nov. 21, 2020)– at SMU (Sept. 4, 2021)