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Cincinnati, Nebraska football to play at Lucas Oil Stadium in 2025

Big Ten Championship Football
Posted at 7:56 AM, Oct 25, 2023
and last updated 2023-10-25 07:56:41-04

INDIANAPOLIS — The University of Cincinnati Bearcats will play a home game against Nebraska at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in 2025.

FBSchedules.com first reported on Tuesday that UC and Nebraska were rescheduling their previously planned home-and-home football series. The two sides announced in 2013 that they would face each other in 2020 and 2025, but COVID-19 interrupted plans.

Originally, UC was scheduled to play at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln during the 2020 season before hosting the Cornhuskers at Nippert Stadium on Aug. 30, 2025.

In 2020, though, The Big Ten announced its teams would only play in-conference opponents due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning the matchup in Lincoln was off.

UC and Nebraska have now agreed to reschedule both games, but Cincinnati's home game will now be in Indy.

"The transition from the American to the Big 12 presented some challenges with future scheduling that we needed to address," Deputy AD/CFO John Daniel said in a release. "This game at Lucas Oil Stadium helped give us flexibility financially while creating a unique opportunity for UC football to host Nebraska. It will be an eighth home game in 2025. Playing at an NFL stadium in a major market with an outstanding recruiting base is a win for us."

Cincinnati will still host seven games at Nippert in 2025 — including five Big 12 match-ups, UC said.

UC and Nebraska will still play in Lincoln for the second game of the series, but that won't be until Sept. 11, 2032.

Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, is around an hour and 45 minutes away from UC's campus. It's more than nine hours away from Nebraska's. Capacity at Lucas Oil is

The two teams have only met once before — in 1906. The Cornhuskers won that game 41-0.

UC said it also bought out two game contracts for upcoming years. The Bearcats will no longer face the Ohio Bobcats in 2026, and a home-and-home series with WKU in 2025 and 2026 has also been canceled.