Click Here for 2025 NEC Football Schedule Graphic
Bridgewater, NJ — The Northeast Conference (NEC) announced the league slate for the upcoming 2025 football season on Tuesday. The schedule will provide seven conference games per squad, as each of the eight teams that comprise the league will face each other one time throughout the campaign.
For the fourth consecutive year, the opening day of NEC play features Central Connecticut on the gridiron. This season, the defending league champs are set to play host to Saint Francis U, marking the second time in as many years that the two league foes meet on the first day of the conference season. That matchup is set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Following a two-week hiatus, four more teams make their NEC debuts on Saturday, Oct. 6. LIU hosts Mercyhurst for the first-ever meeting between the two squads while Duquesne heads to Stonehill to round out the action of the second weekend of league play.
The league slate goes into full swing the following weekend on Saturday, Oct. 11 with all eight teams in action. Highlighting the third NEC game day is a clash between Keystone State rivals Duquesne and Saint Francis U in Loretto. In addition, Robert Morris hosts Central Connecticut in a rematch of last season’s double-overtime battle that took place in New Britain.
The final three weeks of the campaign (Saturday, Nov. 8; Saturday, Nov. 15; Saturday, Nov. 22) also consist of full four-game slates.
Duquesne and Central Connecticut each have Saturday, Nov. 15 — the penultimate weekend of the regular season — circled on their calendars. The two teams met in last season’s regular-season finale a year ago in a battle that saw the Blue Devils disrupt the Dukes’ perfect record in conference play and earn the NEC’s AQ to the FCS Playoffs.
The final day of the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 22 features two rivalry games. LIU and Wagner will duke it out on Staten Island for bragging rights in the Big Apple, while longtime foes Duquesne and Robert Morris will meet in Moon Township to determine which team reigns supreme in the Steel City.
Core members Central Connecticut, LIU, Saint Francis U and Wagner — along with affiliates Duquesne and Robert Morris — will all vie for an automatic bid to the 2025 Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Playoffs, which kick off on Saturday, Nov. 29.
Currently, Stonehill, which joined the NEC for the 2022 season, remains ineligible for the 2025 FCS Playoffs due to its status in the NCAA Division I reclassification process. Coming off its first season as an NEC and Division I member, Mercyhurst, which will be eligible for the FCS Playoffs in 2028, will play its first full seven-game conference slate in 2025.
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 44th season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Chicago (#3), Boston (#8). Hartford/New Haven (#32) and Syracuse (#87). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC full member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.