Wheeling, W. Va. – On Wednesday, the Mountain East Conference (MEC) announced the 2025 Football schedule. On Thursday, the Wheeling University Football team followed suit with the release of their 2025 schedule. The 2025 season will feature five home contests, with three of those coming in October, and will include two new matchups for the team.
The 2024 season marked the third straight year that the Cardinals have finished with a winning record, with the team finishing 6-4 overall and 5-4 against MEC opponents. The year began with a DI matchup against Mercyhurst where the team fell by a narrow 28-25 margin. They would bounce back the next week with a 14-10 win over Walsh before heading into conference play. They started strong with a 52-14 win over West Virginia Wesleyan but, after the bye week the Cardinals would drop three in a row to fall to 1-3 in conference play. They would turn the corner as they picked up a 35-33 win over West Virginia State. It would send them on a streak that saw them win three of their next four games and head into the final week sitting at 5-5. It was a win over West Liberty that propelled them over .500 for the season.
The 2025 season will start with three weeks of non-conference play, with two of those three being brand new matchups. The first of those two comes in the opener as the Cardinals hit the road on August 28th to face Clarion University. The Cardinals have opened with an opponent from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in all but one varsity season as they look to get off to a strong start. Week two will see the Cardinals open their home schedule under the Lights. They welcome Walsh for their first trip to Bishop Schmitt Field, with kick-off scheduled for 6 PM. The end of the non-conference schedule Is the beginning of a two-game, three-week, road trip that sees the Cardinals head to Painesville, Ohio for their first-ever match-up with the Lake Erie Storm.
They open their MEC schedule on the road with a trip down I-79 to Fairmont State on September 20th before hitting their bye week in week five. The team returns home for their Homecoming, Family, and Hall of Fame Weekend celebration to kick-off October, with a matchup against West Virginia Wesleyan. After being on the road a lot in September, the Cardinals will have a heavy October home schedule with three of their four games coming on their home field. They will take on the defending MEC Champions the University of Charleston a week later as they play their first and only back-to-back home weekend of the season on October 11th. Their lone road game of the season will come on October 18th as the team travels down to Institute, West Virginia to take on the Yellow Jackets, before they wrap up October at home on October 25th against Frostburg State.
As they enter the final three weeks of the season, the Cardinals will wrap up their home schedule on November 1st when they take on Concord. It will be the annual senior day celebration as the Cardinals thank their seniors for their time in a Cardinal uniform. Wheeling will once again be road warriors to end the season, making a trip to Glenville State on November 8th, before traveling to West Liberty for the annual "The Battle for Wheeling" in the final week of the regular season on Saturday, November 15th. In total, the Cardinals will have five home contests in the 11 weeks, as Cardinal fans will get plenty of chances in October to play in front of the home crowd while hitting the road throughout September and November.
The Wheeling University Football team will kick-off the 2025 season on Thursday, August 28th, when they take on Clarion with kick-off at 6 PM.
