Alcorn State will step into the national spotlight when it begins the defense of its Southwestern Athletic Conference championship next season.

The Braves will open the 2015 season with a Thursday night game Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech, the school announced Friday. It’ll be the first-ever meeting between the teams. Television assignments won’t be announced for several months yet, but the Thursday night time slot and Football Bowl Subdivision opponent should bring with it some national exposure for Alcorn.

Georgia Tech finished 11-3 last season, capped off by a 49-34 romp over Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl.

It’s the third consecutive season that Alcorn will play a non-conference game against an FBS opponent, and the first time since traveling to Central Michigan in 2009 that it’ll play one from outside of Mississippi.

Alcorn played Mississippi State in 2010 and 2013, and Southern Miss in 2009 and 2014.

“We are very excited about the schedule for the upcoming season, especially with the opportunity to open up against a very good Georgia Tech team from the ACC,” Alcorn coach Jay Hopson said in a school release.

After the opener against Georgia Tech, Alcorn will quickly settle into its SWAC schedule. The Braves’ second game is at Alabama State on Sept. 12, followed by the first two home games of the season on Sept. 19 (Mississippi Valley State) and 26 (Concordia, Ala.).

October will be a tough month for the Braves, with two of their three games on the road. They travel to Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Oct. 3 and Southern University on Halloween night in a rematch of last year’s SWAC championship game. Those contests bookend a home game with Grambling on Oct. 17 and bye weeks on the 10th and 24th.

Unless Alcorn fills one of the bye weeks with another non-conference opponent, it will have just two games outside the SWAC and five at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium.

Alcorn finishes the season with four more games in November — at home against Prairie View (Nov. 7) and Alabama A&M (Nov. 21), and on the road at Texas Southern (Nov. 14) and archrival Jackson State (Nov. 28).