Wake Forest announces new home-and-home series to replace return trip to Ole Miss
Wake Forest made some headlines last week after it backed out of its contract to play at Ole Miss in 2025.
A frustrated Lane Kiffin delivered that news after Ole Miss’ 40-6 win over the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem over the weekend. He said Wake Forest athletic director John Currie let Ole Miss’ administration know of that decision earlier in the week.
Wake Forest evidently moved quickly to replace the Ole Miss game on its 2025 schedule. The Demon Deacons are now set to face off against Oregon State in a home-and-home series that will begin in 2025. Wake will play in Corvallis in 2025 with plans for the Beavers to make a return trip to Corvallis in 2029 “or earlier.”
“We are committed to making decisions that best serve our program and our student-athletes, and that includes bringing national games to Winston-Salem,” Currie said in a press release. “We have a high degree of respect for Ole Miss and their fans, and we congratulate them on their victory last weekend in sold-out Allegacy Stadium. But given the ongoing financial pressures of the new era of college athletics and our priority on continuing to grow resources to benefit our student-athletes, it was the right business decision to secure this two-game home-and-home series with Oregon State, and cancel the planned game in Oxford next year.”
Ole Miss is presumably still searching for a replacement opponent to play in 2025. Ironically, Oregon State or Washington State may end up as potential options due to their flexible schedules in 2025.
Next season will mark the first-ever meeting between Oregon State and Ole Miss.
Yet the cost to transport everything and everyone to Corvalis is going to cost a lot more than transporting the same to Oxford. So I doubt seriously that they are going to benefit financially from this deal except for the fact that they got Ole Miss to come there and backed out of returning visit.
So it was a smart financial decision to write Ole Miss a check for a million dollars to chicken out of the game and to be involved in our game atmosphere. What a spineless Administration over there
Ole Miss!! You boys some dawgs…. Can’t say I’ve seen a team spank another power 5 so bad they cancelled the rest of the series!