Missouri, West Virginia agree to football home-and-home series

Missouri announced a home-and-home football series with West Virginia on Friday for the 2016 and 2019 seasons.

The Tigers will travel to Morgantown, W. Va., for the season opener in two years on Sept. 3, 2016.

The Mountaineers’ return trip is scheduled for Sept. 7, 2019.

“We are very pleased to add a team the caliber of West Virginia to our schedule,” said MU executive associate athletic director Bryan Maggard, who oversees football scheduling, in a release from the athletic department. “We feel like this is a game that is appealing to the fan bases of both programs, and it helps us both add high-profile non-conference games to our schedules. We’re excited to have a chance to work together, and appreciate everyone coming together to make this happen on all sides.”

Missouri and West Virginia, which joined the Big 12 after the Tigers left it for the Southeastern Conference, haven’t met on a gridiron since the 1998 Insight.com Bowl in Tucson, Ariz.

Missouri, which won that game 34-31, leads the all-time series 3-2.

It’s an important announcement for the Tigers from the standpoint that the SEC has mandated each of its teams to play an opponent from another “Power Five” conference — the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten or Pac-12 — during its nonconference schedule beginning in 2016.

Missouri previously announced a home-and-home with Purdue for 2017-2018, meaning the conference-mandated requirement is satisfied through the 2019 season.

West Virginia is the first non-conference opponent the Tigers have announced for the 2016 season and Missouri still must find an opponent for Nov. 14 next season to round out its 2015 schedule, which includes non-conference games with Southeast Missouri, at Arkansas State and versus Connecticut.

Missouri’s 2019 non-conference schedule includes a season-opener Aug. 31 at Wyoming and a home game Oct. 19 against Memphis.

In addition to games with the Boilermakers, Missouri plays at Connecticut in 2017 and hosts Wyoming in 2018.

This story was originally published November 7, 2014 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Missouri, West Virginia agree to football home-and-home series."