The University of Louisiana at ĒąÉ¬Ö±²„ās marching band will hit the road twice this fall to support the Louisiana Raginā CajunsĀ® football team.
The Pride of Acadiana Marching Band will travel to Oxford, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 13, for the first out-of-town game of the season. The Cajuns will face the University of Mississippi Rebels in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, which seats about 60,000 ĒąÉ¬Ö±²„.
āThe game at Ole Miss is going to be a big one and we want to be there for the team,ā said Dr. Eric Melley, band director.
A pep band will head to Monroe, La., on Saturday, Nov. 15, for the Cajunsā battle with the Warhawks of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
āWe always feel like weāre contributing to the team and the energy in the stadium. So we try to travel to away games when we can,ā Melley said.
He expects the marching band to have a little over 10 percent more members than last year. āIf we donāt quite make 300 members, weāre going to come awfully close to it.ā
The pep band that will travel to ULM will have about 100 members. Melley said it takes at least 80 musicians to make an impact in outdoor stadiums. Members of the pep band donāt perform on the field.
The Pride of Acadiana Marching Band will start practicing on Sunday, Aug. 17. āWeāll have 13-hour days all the way through the week. Itās a long preseason camp because we have just a short week of classes before the first home game,ā the director said.
Classes for the Fall 2014 semester will begin Monday, Aug. 25.
The Raginā Cajuns will welcome the Southern University Jaguars to Cajun Field for the Heymann Classic on Saturday, Aug. 30.
Here are the dates and opponents for remaining Raginā Cajuns home games:
ā¢ Sept. 6, Louisiana Tech;
ā¢ Oct. 4, Georgia State;
ā¢ Oct. 21, Arkansas State;
ā¢ Nov. 1, South Alabama; and
ā¢ Nov. 22, Appalachian State.
This will be Melleyās second year as director of the Universityās marching band.
The Pride of Acadiana performs at all home football games and at some special events in Louisiana.