East Carolina football recently announced a tantalizing 2029 non-conference game: at Clemson.
Amazingly, the Pirates and Tigers have never met on the gridiron. The first-ever clash of purple vs. orange will come Sept. 1, 2029 in Death Valley.
ECU now has three non-conference games scheduled for the ’29 season. The other two will be at home at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium: against Old Dominion on Sept. 15 and Liberty on Sept. 22.
“We are extremely excited to add Clemson to our schedule,” Jon Gilbert, East Carolina Director of Athletics, said in a release. “East Carolina is committed to facing high quality non-conference opponents as we continue to showcase our brand across the country.
“This is another great opportunity to take our program to one of the country’s best college football atmospheres in Memorial Stadium (Death Valley). We continue to try and find the delicate balance between playing guarantee games while also providing a competitive schedule for our program and fans.”
ECU has done a solid job of building a regionally based non-conference schedule, mixed with “Power 4” foes like NC State, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wake Forest, along with FBS and FCS opponents like North Carolina Central, Georgia State, Old Dominion, Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern and Norfolk State.
Here is a list of East Carolina’s future non-conference opponents (source ECUPirates.com) along with the entire 2024 schedule:
2025: at NC State (Aug. 30), Campbell (Sept. 6), at Coastal Carolina (Sept. 13), BYU (Sept. 20)
2026: North Carolina Central (Sept. 5), Appalachian State (Sept. 12), West Virginia (Sept. 19), at Old Dominion (Sept. 26)
2027: Wake Forest (Sept. 11), Georgia State (Sept. 25)
2028: NC State (Sept. 2), Coastal Carolina (Sept. 9), Charleston Southern (Sept. 16), at Wake Forest (Sept. 23)
2029: at Clemson (Sept. 1), Old Dominion (Sept. 15), Liberty (Sept. 22)
2030: Norfolk State (Aug. 31), at South Carolina (Sept. 7), at Old Dominion (Sept. 14)
2031: Old Dominion (Sept. 20)
NOTE: FBSchedules.com reported this week that Western Carolina would be part of ECU’s 2027 schedule (Sept. 4), but the Pirates have not officially announced that game.
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