AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific has adjusted its 2009 schedule by adding Trinity University of San Antonio, Texas, to its slate, and will now play an 11-game schedule.

The Cougars visit the NCAA Division III power Tigers on Oct. 31 in a 1:30 p.m. (CST) game. In their only other previous meeting, Azusa Pacific downed Trinity, 30-14, in 2004 to snap the Tigers’ 43-game home field winning streak.

The addition of Trinity bumps Azusa Pacific’s home game with Southern Oregon University to Oct. 10, originally a bye date on the Cougar schedule. That game will retain its 6 p.m. kickoff.

The opportunity to add Trinity was created by Colorado College’s decision in late March to drop its 127-year old football program for economic reasons which in turn created an undesirable gap in Trinity’s schedule. As several NCAA Division III schools scrambled to fill the game – much like Azusa Pacific did in February when Western Washington University eliminated its football program and created a hole in the Cougar schedule – Trinity opted to renew its relationship with Azusa Pacific, partly because the Tigers needed a home game and Azusa Pacific didn’t necessarily need another home contest, already having 6 such games on the 2009 agenda.

Since 1996, Trinity has the best winning percentage of any college football program in Texas, including the University of Texas. In addition, over the past 15 years, Trinity has carved out the second-best winning percentage in all of NCAA Division III football. The Tigers went 8-2 last year and finished second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Azusa Pacific, which advanced to the NAIA playoff semifinals in the aforementioned 2004 season, is coming of an injury-riddled 2008 campaign in which the Cougars were 2-8 against a difficult schedule that included 5 nationally-ranked teams.

For only the third time in program history the Cougars will play an 11-game regular-season schedule, which kicks off Aug. 29 on the road at Helena, Mont., against NAIA power Carroll College.

Click here to view the 2009 Azusa Pacific football schedule.