East Carolina, Northwestern agree to 2027 football game

by | Jul 29, 2025

East Carolina has announced an away non-conference football game will be played between the Pirates and Northwestern in 2027.

The game will be played on Sept. 18, 2027, at Ryan Field in Chicago. More details are below from ECU Sports Information.

Check out Pirate Radio

Website | Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | Instagram | YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

=====

Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information photo illustration)

By ECU Sports Information

East Carolina and Northwestern have agreed to play a non-conference football game on Sept. 18, 2027, at Ryan Field according to a joint announcement by both institutions Tuesday.

The meeting will mark ECU’s initial visit to Northwestern and the Pirates’ 10th-ever contest against a current member of the Big Ten Conference with the last against Michigan in 2023. The announcement is the third non-conference game for ECU in 2027 as the Pirates are schedule to host Wake Forest (Sept. 11) and Georgia State (Sept. 25) inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

“We are excited to add a school of Northwestern’s caliber to our 2027 schedule,” East Carolina Director of Athletics Jon Gilbert said. “East Carolina has always been committed to facing high quality non-conference opponents as we continue to showcase our brand across the country.”

The contest against Northwestern will maintain the continuity of Power Conference opponents on East Carolina’s future schedules that includes games against Wake Forest (2027/home, 2028/away), NC State (2028/home), Clemson (2029/away) and South Carolina (2030/away). This season, ECU will play a pair of P4 members in NC State (Aug. 28 away) and BYU (Sept. 20 home).

Top Headlines

Pirates fall short in extra innings against UTSA

The ECU baseball team dropped a 9-8 decision to UTSA on Sunday to drop the American Conference series, its first of the season. Check out Pirate Radio Download our mobile app now! Website | Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | Instagram | YouTube | Apple Podcasts |...

Pirates fall to UTSA to split series, Game 3 on Sunday

UTSA eened the series with ECU with a 6-1 victory on Saturday. The two teams will finish out the series on Sunday. Check out Pirate Radio Download our mobile app now! Website | Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | Instagram | YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify =====...

ECU’s Norby throws immaculate inning in shutout against UTSA

ECU's Ethan Norby had an immaculate inning, throwing nine pitches that resulted in strikes in Friday's win over UTSA. Ethan Norby with the immaculate inning 🤟🏼🏴‍☠️ https://t.co/oZEAEMhrXA pic.twitter.com/Fx99YwM0qc — ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 28, 2026 Check...

Photos: Pirate Radio Luncheon with Jay Glazer

We've added photo galleries of photos taken during Jay Glazer's appearance at the Pirate Radio Luncheon on March 23, 2026. Click here to see photos from Glazer's appearance at the ECU-UAB game on March 22, which also included him throwing out the first pitch. Click...

Duke rallies in ninth inning to beat ECU

Duke rallied for five runs in the final three innings, including a ninth-inning walk-off home run to beat ECU, 9-8 on Tuesday. Check out Pirate Radio Download our mobile app now! Website | Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | Instagram | YouTube | Apple Podcasts |...

PRL Wednesday: Baseball, baseball and more baseball

The start of the Major League Baseball season is here, so there’s even more baseball to discuss on Wednesday's show. We’ll discuss the fallout from Tuesday’s loss by ECU to Duke. We’ll continue the baseball conversation with Mark Brown, who will preview the upcoming...

The Brandon Golden Show: ECU baseball coach Cliff Godwin

The latest edition of "The Brandon Golden Show" features one of his former co-workers. ECU baseball coach Cliff Godwin joins the show to catch up and to talk about the Pirates. They'll cover the season's happenings so far, American Conference play and what lies ahead...