Two North Carolina FBS programs – East Carolina and Wake Forest – have agreed to future football games with Norfolk State University.
NSU will play East Carolina in 2024 and Wake Forest in 2029, according to contracts obtained by FBSSchedules.com. This pair of games represents the sixth and seventh, respectively, scheduled with FBS opponents through the end of this decade.
Norfolk State and East Carolina’s 2024 meeting will be the first between the two programs, with NSU getting $350k guaranteed according to the contracts. The two programs have never met on the football field before, but they do have at least one current tie. Former NSU head coach Latrell Scott is now the tight ends coach at ECU as his departure last April led to NSU hiring Dawson Odums as head coach.
Wake Forest and Norfolk State’s 2029 meeting will represent the second matchup between the two schools. Wake Forest won the inaugural matchup in Sept. 2021 41-16 after a competitive first half performance by the MEAC squad. The Winston-Salem, NC based ACC program is set to pay Norfolk State $325k for that game.
NSU’s future opponents include Temple (2023), Vanderbilt (2024), James Madison (2025), Virginia, (2026), and Miami (OH) (2029).
The amount NSU negotiated for both programs was similar to what it has been paid in the recent past. However, it was far below the benchmark that Deion Sanders said last month that HBCUs should look for when playing against upper-tier opponents.