Charlotte 49ers to play football game at Illinois in 2021

The Charlotte 49ers’ football team will play a road game at Illinois on Oct. 2, 2021, the school announced Wednesday.

It will be the 49ers’ first game against a Big Ten school.

Charlotte, which played its first season in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) last season, faced an SEC team (at Kentucky) in 2015 and will play an ACC school (at Louisville) this fall.

In 2017, Charlotte will visit the Big 12’s Kansas State, the alma mater of Charlotte coach Brad Lambert.

Charlotte’s first home game against a Power 5 Conference school will be Sept. 11 2021, when its plays Duke of the ACC.

The 2016 schedule includes nonconference home games against Elon (Sept. 10) and Eastern Michigan (Sept. 17), and nonconference road games at Louisville (Sept. 3) and Temple (Sept. 24). The Conference USA schedule will include four home games and four on the road.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 7:28 PM with the headline "Charlotte 49ers to play football game at Illinois in 2021."