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If you’d been let down by the home-and-homes scheduled by the Washington State Cougars for their future non-conference football games, then this should pick you right up. The school announced today they’d agreed to a home-and-home series with an SEC opponent, the Mississippi St. Bulldogs, in 2030 and 2031. The Cougs will make the trip to Mississippi first followed by the Bulldogs coming to Pullman.
“We are excited to schedule this series with Mississippi State and bring an SEC opponent to Martin Stadium for the first time in school history,” said athletic director Pat Chun in a media release. “To create a matchup between the Pac-12 and the SEC is always great for our league and the series exemplifies our commitment to schedule top non-conference opponents.”
Current MSU head coach, Mike Leach, just left Pullman for Starkville this past January but he’s not the only common coaching the thread the teams share. Jackie Sherill coached WSU for one season in 1976 before eventually ending up in Starkville for 13 seasons and would end his coaching career there in 2003. This will also be the first ever matchup between the teams unless they meet in a bowl game in the interim.
Both games will be played as the first of the teams respective seasons (late August in Mississippi sounds ... hot) so it will be interesting to see what happens with a home-and-home scheduled with the Boise State Broncos also scheduled for those years. The schools bumped that series back in February which led to Wazzu agreeing to a home-and-home with the Frenso State Bulldogs. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it move back again as, even in a year where WSU has five home conference games, they likely won’t want to be on the road twice against high profile opponents in back-to-back weeks to start a season.
WSU’s known future non-conference games are listed below:
WSU Future Schedules
| Year | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Pac-12 Home Games | Total Home Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Pac-12 Home Games | Total Home Games |
| 2020 | at Utah State (9/3, Thursday) | vs. Houston (9/12) | vs. Idaho (9/19) | 5 | 7 |
| 2021 | vs. Utah State (9/4) | vs. Portland State (9/11) | vs. BYU (10/23) | 4 | 7 |
| 2022 | vs. Idaho | at Wisconsin (9/10) | vs. Colorado State (9/17) | 5 | 7 |
| 2023 | at Colorado State (9/2) | vs. Wisconsin (9/9) | vs. Northern Colorado | 4 | 6 |
| 2024 | vs. Portland State (8/31) | at San Diego State (9/7) | Open | 5 | -- |
| 2025 | vs. Idaho (8/30) | vs. San Diego State (9/6) | Open | 4 | -- |
| 2026 | Open | at Kansas State (9/12) | vs. Fresno State (9/19) | 5 | -- |
| 2027 | Open | vs. Kansas (9/11) | at Fresno State (9/18) | 4 | -- |
| 2028 | Open | at Kansas (9/9) | Open | 5 | -- |
| 2029 | Open | vs. Kansas State (9/8) | Open | 4 | -- |
| 2030 | at Mississippi State (8/31) | at Boise State | Open | 5 | -- |
| 2031 | vs. Mississippi State (8/30) | vs. Boise State | Open | 4 | -- |