WVU Football Announces Series Against Virginia to Replace ECU Game

A day after reports circulated that the WVU football program bought out of a scheduled game against East Carolina, there’s now news about a replacement. West Virginia will be replacing the ECU game with a neutral-site series against Virginia that will kickoff in 2026 and then reignite years later. The program officially announced the news on Wednesday.

The Mountaineers and Cavaliers will square off at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. They will play the first of these games on Sept. 19, 2026. This matchup will mark the first meeting between the two schools since the Continental Tire Bowl in 2002.

Back to the Queen City! 👑

We've agreed to a two-game series with Virginia at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

🔗 https://t.co/VLA18fHswZ#HailWV pic.twitter.com/eypgOJLzM4

— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) November 6, 2024

As the schedule currently stands, West Virginia will play seven home games in 2026. In addition to Virginia, WVU has Alabama and UT Martin on the out of conference schedule and the Big 12 scheduling matrix has the Mountaineers set to host Arizona, Houston, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Cincinnati. WVU will travel to Utah, Texas Tech, TCU and Iowa State.

In September, WVU coach Neal Brown hinted the program was working to alter its future schedules while at that time bringing up a priority to play the Backyard Brawl rivalry with Pitt as often as possible. The rivalry will go on a break following the 2025 game in Morgantown before picking up again.

“We need to get our schedule fixed,” Brown said. “We’re in the process of doing that. (The Backyard Brawl is) a game that needs to be played. We got Alabama, that ain’t fixed.”

The Alabama game would be far costlier to get out of at $2 million, should the athletic department pursue that path. The 2026 game in Morgantown is the first of a quick home-and-home series that would conclude with a trip to Tuscaloosa in 2027.

WVU has played 11 regular-season games against power conference opponents in every year of Brown’s tenure. That is at least set to change next year as WVU has Robert Morris and Ohio on its 2025 schedule, but would be the case again in 2026 unless the Alabama game is removed.

For a related story, Mike Asti and Cody Nespor discuss possibilities for the WVU football schedule on a recent episode of Mountaineer Report.