By Kevin Heitz

Talk about adding a big name to your football schedule. Towson University announced today that its football team will face national powerhouse LSU in Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 29, 2012.

"One of the ways that we will be able to help lift our football program upward is through scheduling marquee match-ups that expand our brand nationally," Towson coach Rob Ambrose said in a press release. "To play a perennial national contender is just another building block in the foundation being laid for the future."

They may have the same mascots, but LSU and Towson's football programs couldn't have less in common.

The first program to win two BCS national championships, LSU is a three-time national champion with titles in 1958, 2003 and 2007. During six years with coach Les Miles, LSU has won 62 games and five bowl games, including last year's Cotton Bowl. Towson, meanwhile, is a Football Championship Subdivision program that has just six wins during the last three seasons (6-27).

"We felt the LSU option gave us the opportunity to give our student-athletes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Towson director of athletics Mike Waddell said. "The balance of playing a BCS, a FBS and a FCS game for our three non-CAA matchups is something that we may do from time to time, but not on a regular basis."

Since 2008, Towson has played three FBS opponents, including Navy, Northwestern and Indiana. This year, the Tigers will face Maryland Oct. 1 in the first meeting between the two schools.

Posted Aug. 3, 2011