Ole Miss has never traveled to Conference USA program Charlotte for a football game. In fact, no Southeastern Conference program has ever traveled to Charlotte for a football game but that will be changing in the years to come.

The Rebels announced on Tuesday that the program plans to make its first trip to Charlotte’s Jerry Richardson Stadium on Sept. 12, 2026. The following year, Charlotte will make the return trip to Oxford’s Vaught Hemingway Stadium on Sept. 4, 2027.

“Anytime you’re competing against the Southeastern Conference, you’re obviously talking about the big time,” Charlotte coach Will Healy said in a prepared statement following the announcement of the game. “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.”

While no SEC program has ever traveled to Charlotte, the 49ers program is no stranger to playing competition from the nation’s toughest conference.

Charlotte played Kentucky in 2015, Tennessee in 2018 and is set to face the Vols in Neyland Stadium once again in 2020. The 49ers also have matchups against South Carolina, Florida and Georgia in the coming seasons.

Upcoming marquee non-conference games for Ole Miss

2020: Baylor (in Houston), UConn,
2021: Louisville (in Atlanta), Liberty (Hugh Freeze’s current program)
2022: at Georgia Tech,
2023: Georgia Tech, at Tulane
2024: at Wake Forest,
2025: at USC, Wake Forest
2026: at Charlotte, USC
2027: Charlotte, Oregon State
2030: at Oregon State
2032: at Virginia Tech
2033: Purdue
2034: at Purdue
2037: Virginia Tech