UCLA is breaking with one tradition and starting another in scheduling its first football games against two historically Black universities, a move that will end its long run of having never played a Football Championship Subdivision school.
The Bruins added Alabama State to their 2022 schedule and North Carolina Central to their 2023 schedule, with both games slated to take place at the Rose Bowl. Each team’s nationally recognized band will perform at the game.
“Adding two HBCUs [historically Black colleges and universities] to our football schedule is special,” UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond, whose late mother, Virginia, graduated from North Carolina Central, said in a statement.