EKU Sets Oct. 24 Homecoming Against West Florida as UAC Expands

Eastern Kentucky University locked in October 24 as its 2026 Homecoming date at Roy Kidd Stadium, announcing the change on April 2 alongside a revised football schedule built around the United Athletic Conference's addition of the University of West Florida as a full conference football member.

The West Florida Argonauts, now making their UAC debut as a league member, will serve as EKU's Homecoming opponent in Richmond. What had previously been a different scheduling arrangement became a conference game once the UAC folded West Florida into its football lineup, triggering a ripple of adjustments across the league's member programs.

For EKU specifically, the most significant casualty was a nonconference road game at Southeast Missouri State that had been scheduled for September 26. That date now becomes the Colonels' open week in the updated calendar. The revised slate balances six home games against six road contests, with EKU welcoming West Georgia and Central Arkansas to Roy Kidd Stadium while making road trips to Tarleton State, Austin Peay and Abilene Christian.

The timing of Homecoming wasn't arbitrary. Richmond city officials were factored into the decision, with the October 24 date chosen specifically to avoid conflicting with the community's Millstone Festival in early October. EKU President David McFaddin highlighted the campus and community benefits of the selected weekend in the athletic department's release.

The schedule restructuring reflects a broader pattern across the UAC: adding West Florida converted bye weeks into conference games for multiple programs and forced nonconference calendars to be rebuilt around the new member's insertion. For EKU, that math meant losing the SEMO trip and gaining a conference home game on one of the program's most visible weekends of the year.

The athletic department noted that additional details for the Homecoming weekend will be released as the fall approaches.