Charlotte 49ers schedule home-and-home football series with Ole Miss

The Charlotte 49ers have added Mississippi to their football schedules in 2026 and 2027. And when the Rebels visit Richardson Stadium in 2026, it will be the first time in program history the 49ers will host an SEC team.

“Anytime you’re competing against the Southeastern Conference, you’re obviously talking about the big time,” 49ers coach Will Healy said in a statement. “It’s huge for our student-athlete experience to play in those types of ACC and SEC atmospheres, but also great to get those programs to our place. It’s a priority for us to continue to build the fan experience here, and having Duke, Maryland, North Carolina and now Ole Miss coming to our place is a great way to do that.”

Ole Miss and the 49ers will first play in Charlotte on Sept. 12, 2026. The teams will play again on Sept. 4, 2027 in Oxford, Mississippi.

The 49ers have played a Power 5 program each season since joining Conference USA in 2015. They’ve already played games at the SEC’s Kentucky (2015) and Tennessee (2018) and have games scheduled at South Carolina (2022), Florida (2023) and Georgia (2025). The 49ers open the 2020 season at Tennessee on Sept. 5.

The 49ers will host the Big Ten’s Maryland in 2022 and the ACC’s North Carolina in 2025.

The 49ers also announced Tuesday they will play a home game against Gardner-Webb in 2021. That game will replace a previously scheduled game against Duquesne. The 49ers and Bulldogs will play Sept. 11 in Richardson Stadium. The 49ers open the 2021 season at home against Duke on Sept. 4 (originally scheduled for Sept. 11), the first time a Power 5 team will play in Richardson Stadium.

This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 2:14 PM.