(Yes, a little bit late to this piece of scheduling news. My apologies. Due to my absent-mindedness, everyone will receive a free one-month subscription to CFT. Will that work?)
In a pair of press releases, Ohio State and North Carolina announced earlier this week that the two schools have reached an agreement on a home-and-home series. The Tar Heels will play in Columbus on September 5, 2015, and will then play host to the Buckeyes on September 23, 2017. As noted in the release, the latter game will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools in Chapel Hill.
It’s unclear from either release whether or not Urban Meyer signed off on the series.
“Ohio State has outstanding tradition and is an attractive opponent for our football program,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “(Former AD) Dick Baddour worked on this agreement for several months and I thank him for helping make this series a reality. I think this will be an exciting game for our fans and will have interest nationally as a matchup between the ACC and Big Ten.”
The 2015 game will mark the fifth time the two schools have met in football, with Ohio State holding a 3-1 advantage in the miniseries. The last time the two played on the gridiron was 1975.
In addition to the UNC scheduling news, OSU also announced that, “because of the Big Ten Conference decision to play a nine-game conference season beginning with the 2017 season”, they have canceled their home-and-home series in 2018 and 2019 with Tennessee. It was noted that UT agreed to the Ohio State request and may look at an option to play in future years.