UCLA Football Scheduled to Face Historically Black Colleges, Universities in Rose Bowl For First Time

For the first time, UCLA will face a historically black college or university (HBCU).

The Bruins are scheduled to face Alabama State University in the Rose Bowl on Sept. 10, 2022, and North Carolina Central on Sept. 16, 2023, at the Rose Bowl.

“Adding two HBCUs to our football schedule is special,” said Martin Jarmond, the UCLA Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics, in a prepared statement. “It’s exciting to give our student-athletes and fans a new experience and to bring a little bit of the South to Southern California.”

“It’s exciting to give our student-athletes and fans a new experience and to bring a little bit of the South to Southern California,” Jarmond said.

The 2022 game with Alabama State and the 2023 game with North Carolina Central replace the previously-scheduled series with Michigan, which terminated its home contract with UCLA in 2019.

The Bruins’ future football schedules include games against LSU (2021 and 2024), Georgia (2025 and 2026), Auburn (2027 and 2028), and Wisconsin (2029 and 2030). 

UCLA’s 2021 football season kicks off on Aug. 28 against Hawaii, followed on Sept. 4 by home contests against 2019 national champions LSU and Fresno State on Sept. 18. Season tickets for the 2021 campaign are on sale now at uclabruins.com/tickets.

Each team’s world-renowned bands, Alabama State’s The Mighty Marching Hornets and North Carolina Central’s The Sound Machine Marching Band, will perform at the games.

Alabama State’s acclaimed marching band, featured in Beyonce’s Netflix concert film “Homecoming,” has been invited several times to the Honda Battle of the Bands and performed in the Rose Parade. Additionally, Alabama State’s dance team, the Honey Beez, has performed on “America’s Got Talent.”

North Carolina Central was established in Durham in 1910 and was the nation’s first state-supported liberal arts college for Black students. Today, it is consistently ranked as a top historically black college or university and remains committed to diversity in and access to higher education. North Carolina Central’s renowned marching band, officially known as The Sound Machine Marching Band, has been invited several times to perform at the Honda Battle of the Bands Showcase in Atlanta, as well as in the Rose Parade.