ROLLA, Mo. – While Missouri S&T's football team gets ready to crank up preparations for the 2015 season, the Miners will already be part of a historic night during the 2016 campaign.

The Miners will be the first home opponent for the newest member of the NCAA Division II football family – the University of West Florida – when it kicks off play a year from now.  Missouri S&T and the Argonauts, a member of the Gulf South Conference, will face off Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016 at Community Maritime Stadium in Pensacola, Fla., on the front end of a home-and-home series.

West Florida is scheduled to play in Rolla in September 2017 to complete the two-year deal.

The Miners will actually be the second opponent for the Argonauts in their inaugural season, as West Florida will play at Ave Maria University a week prior to the matchup with S&T.  The Miners will be the first NCAA Division II opponent for UWF, one of only two football-playing schools at that level in the state of Florida.

The venue for the game, Community Maritime Stadium, is the waterfront home of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, a Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.  UWF will play its home games at that facility until its on-campus stadium is completed.

The Miners, who opened drills Thursday for the 2015 campaign, will open this season's schedule Sept. 3 with a home game against Chadron State at 6:30 p.m.