CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Six home dates and a pair of games against NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision squads to bookend the season highlight Western Carolina’s 12-game 2014 Catamount football schedule unveiled today by third-year head coach Mark Speir.

All kickoff times and additional details surrounding WCU’s game day information will be released at a later date.

The 2014 season opens on Labor Day weekend and runs through late November with the opening round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 29. The schedule features a pair of first-time opponents (South Florida and Mercer), as well as the rekindling of the series with longtime league member, VMI. It is also the first time since 2011 that WCU has had a six-game home schedule.

“We are very excited about the 2014 season for several reasons,” said Speir. “It is the first time in several years that we’ve got six home ball games. It is exciting for our players and our fans to have six games in Cullowhee. I’m also excited about how those six games lay out. Our home and away schedule has just the one, back-to-back road games with our home dates.”

“Our schedule is built for us to have the opportunity to be successful; we go from having one of the toughest schedules in FCS in 2013 to having a schedule that is set up for our program at a time when we need to have success. It’s a schedule that is conducive to being successful because of the spacing of our home games and the nonconference games,” Speir said.

Western Carolina’s 2014 season gets underway at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., with the first-ever meeting with the University of South Florida. Both squads will be looking to get the 2014 season off on the right foot. The Bulls – members of the American Conference – lost six-straight games as part of a 2-10 overall finish a season ago. The game at South Florida marks the Catamounts’ fifth trip to the state of Florida since joining the SoCon in 1976.

WCU opens the month of September with back-to-back home dates at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field. The Catamounts host Brevard College on Sat., Sept. 6 on Catamount Club Day before welcoming Catawba a week later on Sept. 13 on Family Weekend. WCU’s meeting with the revived Brevard football program is the first since 1945, while the Purple & Gold play Catawba for the first time since 1969, riding a two-game series win streak.

Following its lone bye week on Sept. 20, the Catamounts will play back-to-back road games including opening Southern Conference play. WCU is scheduled to travel to Paladin Stadium to face-off against Furman on Sept. 27 before returning to the Palmetto State the next weekend to face Presbyterian in nonconference action in Clinton, S.C., on Oct. 4.

The Catamounts play their SoCon home opener on Sat., Oct. 11 against the Wofford Terriers before making their first-ever trip to conference newcomer, Mercer, on Oct. 18. The Bears reinstated their football program in 2013, ending a 72-year hiatus. Mercer is coming off a 10-2 season a year ago as a member of the Pioneer Football League, a Division I non-scholarship conference.

The Citadel provides the annual Homecoming game opponent as the Bulldogs come to Cullowhee on Oct. 25. WCU will also again welcome home all of its former student-athletes, coaches, managers and athletic trainers for the All Sports Reunion on Homecoming weekend. Chattanooga marking the second-straight home date on Nov. 1. The Catamounts will return to Samford for a second-straight season on Nov. 8

WCU wraps up the home portion of its 2014 schedule against VMI on Sat., Nov. 15 in Cullowhee. It is the first meeting between the two since 2002 after the Keydets joined the Big South Conference. The Catamounts have won 11-straight games in the head-to-head series. WCU will honor its senior members of the football team, cheerleading squad, dance team and "Pride of the Mountains" Marching Band, while also honoring its 25th induction class into its Athletics Hall of Fame.

Western Carolina concludes its 2014 regular season at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., against the Alabama Crimson Tide. It is the fourth meeting between the two programs, all coming since 2004 and as the season finale for the second time in the past three years.