RICHMOND, Ky. — Eastern Kentucky football announced its three game non-conference schedule in the first season under new coach, Walt Wells.
The Colonels will play against teams from the Southern and Missouri Valley Conference's in the same season for the first time since 2011. Those two conferences have won the last eight NCAA Football Championship Division titles.
EKU will host Western Carolina to start the season on September 5 at Roy Kidd Stadium. Then, it's off to face Neal Brown's West Virginia Mountaineers on September 12. Finally, the Colonels will play at Youngstown State which is a series that has a history but hasn't been played since 1994.
The Colonels and Western Carolina have met five times with EKU holding a 3-2 edge in the series. The first meeting was in 1988. The most recent match-up came in 2009 when the Catamounts beat EKU, 24-7, at Roy Kidd Stadium.
Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia will be meeting for the first time on the gridiron. The Mountaineers were 5-7 overall in 2019 and had a 3-6 mark in the Big 12 Conference. WVU closed out the season with a 20-17 win at Texas Christian.
Youngstown State and EKU will face each other for the 21st time, and the first time since YSU beat the Colonels 18-15 in the 1994 FCS Playoffs in Youngstown, Ohio. EKU is 12-8 all-time against the Penguins. The first meeting between the two programs was in 1953.
All game times will be announced at a later date.
Eastern announced its 2020 conference schedule in December. The Colonels will face Tennessee-Martin, Eastern Illinois, Murray State and Tennessee State at home. EKU will go on the road to play Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay, Jacksonville State and Southeast Missouri.
