CHICAGO STATE IS MAKING HISTORY! FIRST-EVER FOOTBALL GAME KICKS OFF SATURDAY 💚💙

Okay Chicago, we have discussed shootings, robberies, storms, international arguments over lakes and enough foolishness for ONE news cycle.

CAN WE GET SOME GOOD NEWS UP IN HERE?! 😂👏🏾

Because this one deserves some love.

Chicago State University is about to play the first football game in the school's history.

Not the first game this season.

Not the first game under a new coach.

THE. FIRST. FOOTBALL. GAME. EVER.

On Saturday, August 29, the Chicago State Cougars will take the field against Roosevelt University at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, officially launching the university's inaugural football season. Chicago State Athletics lists kickoff at noon.

Baby, somebody better save that first football.

Save the first jersey.

Save the first ticket stub.

Hell, somebody save a piece of the GRASS. 😂

Because once that ball gets kicked...

Chicago State football officially has a history.

🏈 THIS IS BIGGER THAN JUST ONE GAME

Chicago State isn't simply adding another college sports team.

The university, located on Chicago's Far South Side, is launching what it says is the city's only NCAA Division I football program. The Cougars will compete at the Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS, level and play as an independent during their inaugural season before joining the Northeast Conference in 2027.

And that makes Saturday especially significant for the South Side.

Chicago State's student body is predominantly Black, and the university has deep roots in communities that don't always get to see major college athletic programs built right in their backyard.

Now those students aren't inheriting somebody else's 100-year football tradition.

They're starting one.

That's different.

💚 THESE PLAYERS GET TO SAY, “I WAS FIRST”

Think about what that means for these young men.

Every football program has legendary names and moments buried in its record books.

Somebody scored the first touchdown.

Somebody made the first tackle.

Somebody threw the first touchdown pass.

Somebody caught it.

Somebody won the first game.

But at Chicago State?

THOSE PAGES ARE BLANK RIGHT NOW.

Saturday, these players start filling them in.

Head coach Bobby Rome II has spent the past year building the program from scratch, assembling a coaching staff, recruiting players and establishing a culture for a team that literally did not exist before.

That's not just coaching football.

That's building the damn house while everybody is already standing outside waiting for kickoff. 😂

🌆 AND THERE'S PLENTY OF CHICAGO IN THIS TEAM

One of the coolest parts of this story is that Chicago State is giving some local players the opportunity to play Division I football in the city they grew up in.

Wide receiver Arshawn Powell, an Evergreen Park Community High School graduate, told WTTW he was grateful for the opportunity to play collegiate football in his hometown.

Offensive line coach Arthur Ray Jr. is from Roseland and has spoken about what it means to pour back into young people from the same community that raised him.

Now THAT is what we're talking about.

Talent from Chicago.

Coaching from Chicago.

A university on the South Side.

And a brand-new Division I football program carrying CHICAGO on its chest.

🏟️ THE COUGARS DON'T HAVE THEIR OWN FOOTBALL STADIUM YET

There's still plenty of building left to do.

Chicago State doesn't currently have a dedicated football stadium on campus, so its home games will be played at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.

The inaugural home schedule includes Roosevelt University, Kentucky Christian, Norfolk State, the University of Fort Lauderdale for Homecoming and Virginia University of Lynchburg.

But everybody has to start somewhere.

Saturday isn't about whether Chicago State already looks like a football program that's been around for 100 years.

It's about finally getting Year One started.

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We cover plenty of stories around here that make you ask:

“WHAT TF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!”

😂

This ain't one of them.

This is one where Chicago gets to say:

LOOK WHAT WE'RE BUILDING.

Young men are going to run onto that field Saturday wearing a Chicago State football uniform that no generation before them ever got to wear in an actual game.

Years from now, when somebody asks who played on the first Chicago State football team...

THESE MEN GET TO RAISE THEIR HANDS.

That's history.

So whether the Cougars go out there Saturday and look like the '85 Bears or spend part of the afternoon figuring out where everybody is supposed to stand 😂, we're giving them their flowers.

Because you only get ONE first game.

Congratulations to the players, coaches, students, alumni and everybody at Chicago State University who helped turn an idea into an actual football team.

SOUTH SIDE, Y'ALL GOT A FOOTBALL TEAM! 🏈💚💙

And Saturday...

THE COUGARS FINALLY GET TO PLAY.

Chicago State Cougars football and tickets

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