After ending the 2002 season with a game in December for the first time since 1950, the 2003 Fordham University Rams will start the season with a game in August, the first August football game for Fordham in the school??s 104 years of varsity football. Fordham, the 2002 Patriot League Champions, opens the 2003 season by hosting C.W. Post College on Jack Coffey Field on Saturday, August 30th at 1:00 p.m. The Rams begin their Patriot League title defense on Saturday, September 13th when they travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to take on Lehigh University, who had won four straight Patriot League championships from 1998-2001. Fordham??s non-league schedule will feature the University of Rhode Island from the Atlantic 10 Conference and Ivy League opponents Columbia University and Brown University as well as Division II C.W. Post and New Haven. The meeting with Rhode Island will be the fourth in Fordham??s history, the first since 1914, while the Rams have played Columbia for the past three years and Brown the past seven. The C.W. Post game will be Fordham??s first against the Division II Pioneers since Fordham made the jump to I-AA following the 1989 season while Fordham will face New Haven, led by former Fordham assistant coach Dave Patenaude, for the second time. Tickets are available through the Fordham ticket office by calling 718-817-4300 and will be available online at the Fordham web site in the near future. 2003 FORDHAM UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Aug. 30 C.W. POST COLLEGE, 1:00 p.m. Sept. 6 at Rhode Island, 12:00 p.m. Sept. 13 at Lehigh University*, 1:00 p.m. Sept. 20 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (H), 1:00 p.m. Sept. 27 Open Oct. 4 BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY* (FW), 1:00 p.m. Oct. 11 at Brown University, 1:00 p.m. Oct. 18 UNIVERSITY of NEW HAVEN, 1:00 p.m. Oct. 25 at Lafayette College*, TBA Nov. 1 GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY*, 12:00 p.m. Nov. 8 HOLY CROSS*, 12:00 p.m. Nov. 15 at Colgate University*, 12:30 p.m. Nov. 22 at Towson University*, 12:30 p.m. * - Patriot League game (H) ?C Homecoming & Football Alumni Day (FW) ?C Undergraduate Family Weekend