BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell will open the 2019 football season on the road at FBS-member Troy on Saturday, August 31. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. (ET) at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Ala.
 
Follow the Camels
Watch Saturday's game live on ESPN+, and listen to the Camels on the radio locally on 88.3 WUAW FM, and online at GoCamels.com. Live stats are also available at GoCamels.com, and follow on Twitter @GoCamelsFB for live updates.

Tickets
For tickets to the Camels' 2019 season opener at Troy, please visit Tickets.TroyTrojans.com.
 
Single game tickets for every game in the Creek during the 2019 season are available for purchase online at GoCamels.com.
 
Year 12 on the gridiron
Campbell heads into its 12th season of FCS football in 2018. The Camels brought football back to the Creek in 2008 after a 58 year hiatus, playing as a member of the Pioneer Football League from 2008-17. Campbell previously fielded a football team during its junior college days from 1925-50, taking hiatus from 1940-45 due to World War II.
 
Camels coming off back-to-back winning seasons
The Camels made a successful transition to the Big South Conference in 2018, their first season as a scholarship program. Campbell finished 6-5 overall and 1-4 in its inaugural Big South season, securing back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in the program's modern era (since 2008).
 
Campbell has posted at least five wins in each of the last six seasons, including six in 2017 and 2018 to match a program best in the category. In the programs previous six years, the five win mark had only been reached once (6 in 2011).
 
Nine named Preseason All-Big South
A total of nine Camels have been named to 2019 Preseason All-Big South teams, announced in July at the Big South's 2019 football media day. Campbell's nine selections led the league.
 
The list includes wide receiver Caleb Snead (R-So.), tight end Michael Wooten (R-Sr.), offensive linemen Jacob Cuddington (R-Sr.) and Matt Price (R-Sr.), defensive lineman Damien Dozier (R-Jr.), defensive back Dorian Jones (R-So.) and punter Brad Dennis (R-Sr.). Additionally, kicker Colin Gary (R-Sr.) and long snapper Jackson Hayes (So.) were both named honorable mention preseason all-conference.
 
Meanwhile, Monmouth quarterback Kenji Bahar was picked to be the 2019 Big South Offensive Player of the Year, while Kennesaw State linebacker Bryson Armstrong was tabbed the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Camels picked fourth in preseason Big South poll
Also announced at the Big South's media day, Campbell was picked fourth in the league's preseason coaches' poll.
 
Kennesaw State was picked to repeat as Big South Champions, taking 14 first place votes and 134 total points. Monmouth (5 first place, 122 points) and Charleston Southern (1, 79) followed in the poll, also picking up first place tallies. Campbell came in just behind CSU with 79 points, followed by Gardner-Webb (67), Hampton (64) and Presbyterian (21), rounding out the poll.
 
Packing Barker-Lane
For the third straight season, Campbell broke its overall attendance record (35,405), while resetting Barker-Lane Stadium's single-game mark with 6,712 for its Homecoming tilt vs. Gardner-Webb.
 
Noteworthy: Campbell in season openers
Campbell opens on the road for the first time since 2013, and for just the fourth time in the program's 12 seasons. CU is 1-2 all-time in season openers away from Buies Creek.
 
The Camels have won each of their last four season openers, and are 6-5 overall in season-opening games (5-3 at home, 1-2 road).
 
Campbell vs. the FBS
The Troy game will be Campbell's second against a full FBS member, following last season's 58-21 defeat at the hands of Coastal Carolina (a game moved to Buies Creek due to the threat of Hurricane Florence). Campbell previously played at Old Dominion in 2013 and at Appalachian State in 2014 while both were in the final year of the transitional phase from the FCS level. ODU played a FBS independent schedule in 2013, squaring off against five FBS members, while the Mountaineers played a full Sun Belt slate in 2014, going 6-2 in league play while winning its final six games of the year. When Campbell played Charlotte in 2014, the 49ers were in the beginning stages of their transition to FBS, but played an independent FCS schedule.
 
No fly zone
The Camels led the FCS in fewest passing yards allowed per game (122.5) in 2018, holding opponents under 150 yards passing seven times, including a school record 12 yards at Presbyterian. CU held its opponents without an offensive TD four times.
 
Defense looks to start new streak
Campbell saw its streak of 33 straight games with a takeaway come to an end against Gardner-Webb last season. During the streak, (5 games in 2015, 10 in 2016, 11 in 2017, 7 in 2018), the Camels posted 74 total takeaways, including 46 interceptions and recovered 28 fumbles. Campbell owns 17 takeaways through eight games in 2018.
 
Dennis named to FCS Punter of the Year watch list
Campbell's Brad Dennis is one of 28 named to the 2019 FCS Punter of the Year Award watch list, presented by The Augusta Sports Council. Dennis, a returning First Team All-Big South performer, averaging a school record 43.2 yards per punt in 2018, a Big South best, and ranked 10th in the entire FCS. Dennis pinned 19 punts inside the 20, another CU record, with 10 kicks of 50 or more yards and eight fair catches.

Scouting Troy
The Trojans have won 10 or more games in each of the last three seasons, including a 10-3 mark in 2018 with a 42-32 victory over Buffalo in the Dollar General Bowl to cap off the year.
 
B.J. Smith returns for Troy after rushing for 1,186 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2018, while Kaleb Barker, who saw action in six games as a junior last season, tossed 10 TDs with 1,013 yards, completing 73 percent of his passes. Carlton Martial anchors the Troy defense, registering 76 total tackles with 8.5 stops for loss, 3.0 sacks and three forced fumbles on the way to Freshman All-America honors in 2018.

Next up
The Camels will open their home slate on September 7, hosting Shaw at Barker-Lane Stadium. Campbell topped the visiting Bears in shutout fashion last season, 42-0, scoring on its first five possessions and limiting the Division II Bears to just 174 total yards.

Watch the Camels on ESPN+
ESPN+, ESPN's new streaming platform, is the new home for live Big South Network productions. Campbell will be featured in all 11 games of the 2019 football season on ESPN platforms, including a minimum of seven broadcasts on ESPN+.