Football | 1/7/2015 1:05:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas - The Texas State Athletics Department announced Wednesday that the Bobcats have completed their 2016 non-conference football schedule that includes teams from the Southeastern Conference, American Conference and Mid-American Conference.
 
Texas State opens the 2016 campaign beginning a home-and-home series against the Ohio University Bobcats in Athens on Sept. 3. Ohio has played in six bowl games, including five straight from 2009-13, and won 72 games in the past nine seasons.
 
Two weeks after the Ohio contest, the Bobcats travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to play the Arkansas Razorbacks on Sept. 17.  The Razorbacks are coming off a 7-6 season that included back-to-back shutout wins over No. 20-ranked LSU and No. 8-ranked Ole Miss before winning the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl with a 31-7 victory over Texas.
 
Following the Arkansas game, Texas State and the University of Houston play in San Marcos for the first time since 1948 when the Cougars travel to Bobcat Stadium on Sept. 24, 2016. Houston has a new head coach in Tom Herman and is coming off an 8-5 season that included an improbable 35-34 comeback victory over Pittsburgh in the Armed Forces Bowl.
 
The Bobcats close out their 2016 non-conference schedule with a game against neighboring Incarnate Word on Oct. 1. Located in San Antonio, the Cardinals are a member of  the Southland Conference.
 
Texas State's 2015 non-conference schedule includes a 2014 College Football Playoff national semifinalist and teams from the American Conference, Southwestern Athletic Conference and Conference USA.
 
Texas State opens the 2015 campaign on the road when the Bobcats travel to Tallahassee, Fla., and play Florida State on Sept. 5. The Seminoles won 29 straight games before falling to Oregon in the first College Football Playoffs National Semifinal game this season.  
 
The Bobcats return to San Marcos and play home games against Prairie View A&M on Sept. 12 and Southern Miss on Sept. 19. Texas State closes out its non-conference schedule at Houston on Sept. 26.
 
The dates for Texas State's 2015 Sun Belt Conference schedule will be announced after March 1 by the league office. The Bobcats will play conference home games against Georgia State, ULM, New Mexico State and South Alabama. Texas State's conference road games are at Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Idaho and UL Lafayette.
 
Season tickets for the 2015 season go on sale Feb. 4. The Bobcat Club also hosts a National Signing Day Showcase on Feb. 4 in the J. Garland Warren Room of the South End Zone Complex at Bobcat Stadium beginning at 6:00 p.m. Head coach Dennis Franchione and his staff will introduce Texas State's 2015 recruiting class at the showcase. To reserve your seat for the National Signing Day Showcase please call Texas State Athletics at 512-245-2114.
 
Fans can also watch free live coverage of Texas State signing its recruiting class on txstatebobcats.com.
                                                                                                                                                            
Since his arrival at Texas State, Franchione's recruiting classes were ranked No. 1 in the WAC in 2012, No. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference in 2013 and No. 2 in the SBC in 2014.