The VMI Keydets have added the Ferrum College Panthers to their 2025 football schedule, FBSchedules.com has learned.
VMI will host Ferrum College at Alumni Memorial Field in Lexington, Va., on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, which will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.
The Keydets will pay the Panthers a $35,000 guarantee for playing the game, according to the copy of the contract obtained from Virginia Military Institute via a state Freedom of Information Act request.
Ferrum College, located in Ferrum, Va., is a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) in Division III. The Panthers finished the 2023 season 3-7 overall and 1-6 in ODAC play.
VMI was previously scheduled to host the UVa-Wise Cavaliers on Sept. 6, 2025. However, that game has been rescheduled for Sept. 7, 2030, according to a copy of an amendment to the contract obtained from VMI.
VMI is scheduled to open the 2025 season on the road against the Navy Midshipmen on Aug. 30 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The Keydets are also slated to make consecutive road trips to visit the Bucknell Bison on Sept. 13 and the Richmond Spiders on Sept. 20.
The 2025 season is another 12-game schedule for Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams. In addition to four non-conference opponents, VMI will play eight Southern Conference (SoCon) foes.
Ferrum Virginia is located 47 miles south of Roanoke.
Ferrum is moving to Division II in 2025.
And as a member of the Conference Carolinas