Two of the handful of college football teams whose schedules were impacted by Hurricane Florence and her aftermath have joined forces in an effort to get back their 12th games this season.
Both North Carolina State and East Carolina announced Tuesday afternoon that they have tentatively reached an agreement to play each other Dec. 1 of this year. The agreement is contingent upon neither team qualifying for their respective conference championship games, which are scheduled for that same Saturday.
NC State is currently 1-0 in ACC play, while ECU lost its only AAC game played this year.
If it goes off, the ECU-NC State game would be played at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.
“This replacement game makes sense for both schools,” said NCSU athletic director Debbie Yow in a statement. “NC State lost a home game and ECU lost a road game due to Hurricane Florence. We’re pleased to be able to secure this twelfth game for both our fans and our team.”
NC State’s game against West Virginia and East Carolina’s matchup with Virginia Tech were both canceled. A total of a dozen Week 3 FBS games were impacted in some form or fashion by the hurricane.
The Wolfpack and Pirates have met 29 times previously, and also have future games scheduled for 2019 and 2022. In announcing the Dec. 1 game, the two schools also confirmed that a future home-and-home series has been added for the 2025 (at NC State) and 2028 (at ECU) seasons.
“The opportunity to extend the football series with NC State is of great importance to ECU, the region and our fan base,” ECU Chancellor Cecil Staton said. “We had to make that decision Monday in order to formalize an agreement to capitalize on this opportunity and we are pleased that we could bring this to formal contract.”