BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb University athletics officials announced Tuesday that the school will play its first Atlantic Coast Conference football opponent in 2009, battling the Wolfpack of North Carolina State.

The game is set for Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in Carter-Finley Stadium with a start time to be determined at a later date. Even though kickoff is still two-plus years away, the Bulldog faithful have reason to be excited.

"This is a great moment for our football program and fan base," said GWU Vice President for Athletics Chuck Burch. "As a growing athletics department, it is imperative that we continue to schedule Bowl Subdivision football teams when those opportunities become available.

"When those opportunities involve high-profile programs within our own state, playing an ACC school generates a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm for our fans, student-athletes and all parts of the University."

Gardner-Webb head coach Steve Patton also sees the benefits.

"This should be a tremendous recruiting tool for our football program," Patton said. "When you can go into a prospective student-athlete's home and show them that they'll have the opportunity to compete against an ACC or SEC program, that level of competition becomes a real selling point."

By the time the 2009 season rolls around, GWU will be accustomed to battling Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) programs.

Gardner-Webb will play a pair of Division I FBS programs in 2007, the first opponents of that caliber in school history. The Bulldogs will open the season at Ohio University on Sept. 1, and will tangle with SEC member Mississippi State on Sept. 22.