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FLORENCE, Ala. -- The University of North Alabama will open its 2021 football season on the road Saturday in Hammond, La., against 17th ranked Southeastern Louisiana in a game that will renew an old conference rivalry from the 1970s.


Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Saturday (Central) at Strawberry Stadium.


North Alabama and Southeastern Louisiana, both Lions, will meet for the first time since 1978. That was SELU's final season as a meber of the Gulf South Conference and the two schools fought to a 7-7 tie in Florence. 


This game will open the 73rd season of collegiate football at UNA and will kickoff the final season of a four-year transition to the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level. 


"We're excited to finally get to game week," said UNA Head Football Coach Chris Willis. "Our guys are ready to get out of practice mode and line up against someone else and see how we stack up. 


"We've had two really good practices to start game week and we'll get in two more on Wednesday and Thursday before hitting the road," Willis added.


North Alabama will face a tough start to the 2021 season, playing its first four non-conference games to open the season against nationally ranked FCS teams. In all, seven of the 11 opponents on UNA's 2021 schedule are ranked in the AFCA pre-season Top 25. 


Southeastern Louisiana went 4-3 this past spring in an abbreviated season but returns the 2020-21 Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Award recipient in the form of 6-foot-7 quarterback Cole Kelley. Kelley earned FCS National Player of the Year honors after passing for 2,662 yards in seven games, while completing 68.9 percent of his passes and averaging 386.9 yards of total offense per game. He threw for 18 touchdowns and ran for seven more.


SELU's losses were to eventual national champion Sam Houston State 43-38 on the road, Incarnate Word (56-45) and Southern Illinois (55-48). SELU was 3-0 at home last spring. 


"This game will be a big challenge for our team," Willis said. "We're facing a good football team that has high expectations, is nationally ranked in the pre-season and returns the FCS Player of the Year. It's a game that will definitely give us a gauge of where we stand."  


UNA returns 50 lettermen, including 21 starters from last fall when the Lions went 0-4 against a schedule that included FBS opponents Liberty, Southern Mississippi and BYU. BYU finished the season ranked 11th nationally and Liberty was 17th. 


The UNA Lions are 42-26-4 all-time in season-opening games. UNA is 2-1 in season openers on the Division I level, defeating Southern Utah 34-30 on the road in 2018, dowing Western Illinois 26-17 at home to open the 2019 season and losing 28-7 last season at Liberty. 


Southeastern Louisiana leads the all-time series with North Alabama 9-1-2, with UNA's only win coming in 1977 in Hammond, 29-7.


The two schools first met in 1957 in Florence, with SELU taking a 21-19 win. Southeastern Louisiana won the first nine meetings in the series between 1957 and 1975. The two schools then tied 28-28 in Florence in 1976, UNA won 29-7 in Hammond in 1977 and they tied again in 1978, 7-7, giving UNA a 1-0-2 record in the last three meetings. 


UNA is 1-5 in games played in Hammond.