Campbell football schedules a pair of in-state firsts – dates with ECU, UNC

In two runs at college football, separated by more than half a century, Campbell University has never met East Carolina or North Carolina on the gridiron.

That’s set to change in the next five years, the school announced Friday in a press release.

Among four future football dates added to the Camels’ schedule are a Sept. 22, 2022 trip to ECU and a Nov. 4, 2023 game at UNC. The other two are a home-and-home series with The Citadel, the announcement said.

The game with Tar Heels will be the Campbell program’s first ever against an ACC opponent.

“With the additions, Campbell will face at least one FBS opponent in each of the next five seasons, including Troy in 2019, Georgia Southern in 2020 and Liberty in 2021,” the release said.

Campbell fielded its first football team in 1925 and went on to win a handful of state junior college championships – and the Eastern U.S. Junior College Championship – before several factors led to the program being dropped in 1950, according to the university.

Football resumed in Buies Creek in 2008, with the Camels playing in the football-only Pioneer League, The News & Observer reported. The program joined the FCS Big South Conference this year.

This story was originally published September 1, 2018 at 3:20 PM.