GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 17, 2023) – Head Coach Jack Hatem and the Denison University football team are excited to announce a home-and-home series vs. Linfield University from McMinnville, Oregon, that will begin in the upcoming 2023 season in Granville, Ohio.

The Big Red and the Wildcats first meeting will come under the lights at Deeds Field-Piper Stadium starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 9. It will be the second game of the 2023 season for Denison after opening the year at Capital University.

Then in 2024, Denison will make the trek out to Oregon to play at Linfield starting at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 7. It will be the biggest trip for the Big Red since their 2018 season opener at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, a year in which Denison finished 8-3 overall, captured the program's first NCAC championship since 1986, and advanced to the first round of the NCAA Division III football playoffs for the first time in 33 years.

Linfield, meanwhile, is seeking its 67th consecutive winning football season and fourth straight Northwest Conference championship this Fall. The Wildcats finished the 2022 season 10-1 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs.

"This is a huge deal for us," said Coach Hatem. "Getting to play a national-caliber team that is consistently ranked as one of the top-25 to top-15 teams in the country and is a perennial playoff contender, it will be exciting to have them come to our field, and it puts us on the national scene. This is probably the biggest game and strongest nonconference opponent we have played during my tenure here at Denison."

The matchup will mark the first head-to-head meeting between the two schools in any sport.