North Carolina State and Troy have agreed to a future home-and-home series that will include two games over three seasons in 2015 and 2017. The schedule could mean a future game between NC State and LSU could be adjusted.
According to a press release from Troy, NC State will host the Trojans from the Sun Belt Conference on September 5, 2015, the season opener. NC State will make the return trip to Troy, Alabama on September 23, 2017. Bringing NC State to Veterans Memorial Stadium is a significant scheduling win for the Trojans.
“Anytime we can get an AQ opponent to come to Troy, and to do so in a home-and-home series, it’s a tremendous get for us,” Troy Athletics Director John Hartwell said in a statement. “It will be an opportunity to showcase not just our football program, but also our facilities, our University and the city of Troy. We’re not scheduling to just say that we played them; it’s one that we think we have a legitimate shot of not only competing, but also winning one or both of those games.”
As noted by FBSchedules.com, via Twitter, NC State was originally scheduled to open the 2015 season at home against South Alabama. The site also suggests a 2017 road trip for NC State to LSU could be moved as well, because this would give NC State two road games in non-conference play.
The new SEC scheduling policy, which will begin to be enforced in 2016, requires all SEC schools to schedule at least one game each year against a school from another power conference. NC State would satisfy that requirement if it remains on the schedule. Fortunately for LSU, Syracuse is on the schedule in 2017, so the power-conference requirement would remain fulfilled even without NC State.
NC State is scheduled to host LSU in 2020 as part of the scheduling agreement between the schools. One solution could be to switch the locations of the games, giving NC State a home game in 2017 and LSU the home-field advantage in 2020. LSU is also rumored to be working on a neutral site game against Penn State in 2020, although details on that possibility are far from developed. For now, NC State is the confirmed power conference opponent that would fulfill the SEC’s scheduling requirement that season.