The Appalachian State Mountaineers have added the Eastern Kentucky Colonels to their 2025 football schedule, FBSchedules.com has learned.
Appalachian State will host Eastern Kentucky at Kidd-Brewer Stadium in Boone, N.C., on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. The Mountaineers will pay the Colonels a $325,000 guarantee for the game, per the copy of the contract obtained from Appalachian State University via an open records request.
Appalachian State and Eastern Kentucky first met on the gridiron in 1971 in Richmond, Ky. In their most recent matchup in 2005 in Richmond, the Mountaineers defeated the Colonels 24-16 to extend their advantage in the overall series to 8-3.
With the addition of Eastern Kentucky, Appalachian State now has all four non-conference opponents set for the 2025 season. The Mountaineers are scheduled to open the season on Thursday, Aug. 28 in the Duke’s Mayo Classic against the Charlotte 49ers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
App State is also scheduled to host the North Carolina State Wolfpack on Sept. 6 and, after hosting EKU, will welcome the Toledo Rockets to Boone on Sept. 20.
Eastern Kentucky, who competes in the United Athletic Conference (UAC) in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), now has all four of its non-conference games scheduled in 2025. The Colonels are slated to visit the Louisville Cardinals on Aug. 30, host the Houston Christian Huskies on Sept. 6, and travel to face the Western Illinois Leathernecks on a date to be determined (was Sept. 13).
Football Schedules
EKU is one of the two schools that should join the Sun Belt in 2025 the other being SFA
The current revenue of EKU and SFA’s is ~40% that of the average revenue a Sun Belt member. Neither would bring anything to the conference (i.e. $$$) nor could they afford (i.e. upgrades) the price of membership. Just stop with this notion.
What they would bring is the ability to have a set Thanksgiving weekend schedule as follows:
Appalachian State-Coastal Carolina
Arkansas State-Southern Miss
Eastern Kentucky-Marshall
Georgia Southern-Georgia State
James Madison-Old Dominion
Louisiana-ULM
South Alabama-Troy
Stephen F. Austin-Texas State
If ESPN, who owns the Sun Belt’s media rights, wants this, then they shall have it.
Laughable about the “Thanksgiving weekend set”. But keep dreaming z-man, keep on dreaming.