Back in April of last year Northwestern and Stanford announced a four-game series that will be played between 2019-22.
Nearly a year later yet another future series has been announced, and will find the Big Ten and Pac-12 schools meeting on the gridiron earlier than anticipated.
In a release, Northwestern confirmed that the Wildcats and Cardinal have finalized plans for a home-and-home football series to be played in 2015 and 2016. This new series will kick off the in Evanston on Sept. 5, 2015, and will serve as the season opener for both teams. The Wildcats will make a return visit to Stanford on Sept. 24, 2016.
The 2015 game will mark the first time the two schools have met on a football field since 1994.
“This was a great opportunity for Northwestern to expand on our upcoming series with Stanford and allow an exciting matchup to take place even sooner,” NU athletic director Jim Phillips said in a statement. “We’re thrilled about the quality of our future nonconference opponents, with schools such as Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Boston College, Syracuse, California and now Stanford. Couple that with our traditional Big Ten schedule and it is safe to say there will be plenty of exciting action in Chicago’s backyard for years to come.”
The agreement between Northwestern and Stanford is one of the first of many that will be announced between members of the two conferences. In December of last year, the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they have entered into an agreement for a future series involving the members of the respective conferences.
Beginning in 2017, each of the 12 members of the Pac-12 will face a member of the 12-school Big Ten in football every season.