The Virginia-Lynchburg Dragons will play five Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponents in 2026, the school announced Monday.
Virginia University of Lynchburg (VUL) is a private Historically Black College and University (HBCU) that is located in Lynchburg, Va. The Dragons are a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA).
According to the schedule posted to its X (formerly Twitter) account, Virginia-Lynchburg will open the 2026 season on the road against the Hampton Pirates of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) on August 29. Hampton previously unveiled its 11-game schedule, but will now play a 12th game next season.
Two weeks later on September 12, the Dragons will travel to face the Morgan State Bears of the MEAC. This game was revealed when Morgan State released its schedule in January.
Virginia-Lynchburg’s final three contests against FCS teams next season were each previously unannounced. The Dragons will travel to face the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats of the SWAC on September 19 and Norfolk State Spartans of the MEAC on October 10.
VUL also lists a November 21 game against the Chicago State Cougars, which is a new FCS program set to begin play this fall. Chicago State will play as an Independent in 2026 before moving to the Northeast Conference in 2027. Since Chicago State is a new program and not elevating from a lower division, it remains to be seen where the game will be played.
The 2026 season will be the fifth for the Dragons under head coach Tim Newman. The Dragons went 0-10 in his first season at the helm, and improved their record to 2-9 in 2023, 2-8 in 2024, and 3-8 last season.
— VUL Football (@FootballVul) February 2, 2026
How much longer are these teams that play mostly all road games and take beat down after beat down going to be tolerated. This is just exploitation of the kids on these teams! They don’t win anything, but VUL and Oakland, CA (among others) profit off of this at the expense of the kids that risk injury and when that happens, they have nothing.
This is nothing like Oakland. VUL is an HBCU playing mostly nearby HBCU’s. Football isn’t just about the final score, man.
Playing an FCS team the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the Dragons know how the big boys do it. They look a natural to join the SEC.
Sure do 😁. That Lynchburg network is something serious 😂