The NAU 2010 football schedule is official and there's only one money game this year after playing two last year.

The athletic department won't be making an extra $410,000 -- the amount the University of Mississippi paid NAU to travel to Oxford, Miss. last year -- by playing more than one Bowl Championship Series school. Instead, the Lumberjacks open their season hosting Western New Mexico on Thursday Sept. 2.

While the scheduling decisions are made by NAU's administration, head coach Jerome Souers is glad to have a reprieve from having to play two BCS schools this season.

"Those games are very taxing, not just psychologically but physically," Souers said.

The Jacks lost their games to Arizona and Ole Miss last year by a combined score of 72-31.

Souers is also happy to start the season at home and "knock off the rust" before facing Arizona State eight days later in the Jacks' lone financial windfall game. Those extra days of preparation and rest are going to be precious to his players before they head to Sun Devil Stadium, Souers said.

"We'll need to be as sharp and rested as we can be," he said.

The first two games will also gauge with what kind of team NAU is fielding this year. Souers believes teams show the most improvement between the first and second games of the season.

The contest against the Sun Devils begins a four-game road stretch, though the Jacks have a bye week between the ASU game and the start of their conference schedule.

"The bye week comes at a good time," Souers said.

Last year NAU played without a true bye week, starting its season a week later than most teams on Sept. 12. Injuries then piled up for the Lumberjacks without any sort of break.

"Without any rest, it's going to catch up to you," Souers said.

In the weeks following the bye, NAU travels to face Idaho State, Southern Utah and Eastern Washington. The Jacks faced those teams at home last season, losing only to Eastern Washington 49-45 in the season finale.

Next, Montana State visits Flagstaff on Oct. 16 and a trip to Montana looms the following week. Souers' NAU teams have gone 0-12 against the Grizzlies since he left his defensive coordinator position at Montana. Last year, Montana escaped the Walkup Skydome with a 41-34 overtime win on Sept. 26.

The Grizzlies finished the season with a 14-1 record, losing only to Villanova, 23-21 in the Football Championship Series championship game.

NAU will have plenty of upperclassmen returning who have experience playing in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, something the Jacks will need if they want to upset the perennial conference power.

"You have to have a salty group of players," Souers said about the difficulty of playing in Missoula, Mont. "The fervor of the Missoula crowd rivals anybody else in the country."

A home game against Sacramento State, a road game facing Northern Colorado and a homestand against Weber State and Portland State finish off the schedule.

It's not ideal having an unbalanced schedule, but Souers hopes the early road games will prepare his team for a stretch run at home.

"It's really difficult to get it the way you want," Souers said. "You work with what you've got."

Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.