EASTON, Pa. — They’ll still play on rivalry weekend. And they’ll still honor all the trappings of the longest-played matchup in college football.
But the Lafayette College and Lehigh University football teams are adjusting the schedule over the next four seasons so that two games are played in consecutive years on a team’s home field.
- The game has been played since 1884, sometimes more than once a year
- This year's matchup will be installment No. 159
- The teams will play home-and-home for the next four years
It will be the first time one school has hosted back-to-back games since World War II.
The change is being made so Lafayette can play on its home turf in 2025 — the year the entire Easton campus will begin celebrating its bicentennial, marking 200 years since its founding in 1826.
Lehigh will host the rivalry at Goodman Stadium in Bethlehem this November and again in 2024. Lafayette will host at Fisher Stadium on College Hill in 2025 and 2026.
The 2027 game will be played in Bethlehem, and the contest will return to rotating between the two Lehigh Valley campuses, which are about 12 miles apart.
The schools made the announcement last week.
"We wanted our rivalry game to be one of the many events that we are able to celebrate on College Hill during our bicentennial," said Lafayette Director of Athletics Sherryta Freeman. "We'd like to thank the Lehigh administration, including Lehigh's Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett, for the willingness to shift games on the calendar."
"We'd like to thank the Lehigh administration ... for the willingness to shift games on the calendar."Sherryta Freeman, Lafayette College athletic director
Sterrett said Lehigh was happy to accommodate the schedule shift. Lafayette is planning a full slate of 200th anniversary activities in the 2025-26 academic year.
"Although our teams and athletes compete with passion and purpose whenever Lafayette is our opponent, we also collaborate often to achieve meaningful educational or community building outcomes," Sterrett said. "This schedule adjustment reflects that mindset. We know Lafayette would do the same for us."
This year’s game will be the 159th.
Lafayette won last year’s matchup at Lehigh, 14-11. Both schools had down years, with Lehigh going 2-9 (2-4 in the Patriot League) and the Leopards finishing the season at 4-7 (and 3-3 in the Patriot League).
The game was first played in 1884, in Easton. Lafayette leads the all-time series, 81-72-5.
