UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – The 2026 schedule is set for John Carroll Football.Â
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The Blue Streaks are excited for the 2026 campaign, the first under new Head Coach Brian Polian '97.Â
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Coming off of a historic run to the NCAA Semifinal in 2025, the Blue Streaks are hoping to continue the success and remain a program on the rise. The Blue & Gold will face newly familiar NCAC opponents like DePauw and Wabash, while also seeing some new ones, such as Carnegie Mellon and the NCAC's new addition, Washington University in St. Louis.
FULL SCHEDULE HERE
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John Carroll's season opener will be on September 5 with the Blue Streaks traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to face Carnegie Mellon University. The Streaks haven't faced off against the Tartans since 1988. That 1988 matchup marked the end of a 17-year rivalry, with John Carroll walking away victorious in their final meeting.
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The Blue Streaks will begin North Coast Athletic Conference play by traveling to Delaware, Ohio to face the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops. This matchup will mark the fourth meeting for these teams, and their second in-conference matchup. The date is TBD due to Rosh Hashanah.
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The home opener for the Blue Streaks will be on September 19 against the Kenyon College Owls, where the seniors will be celebrated for their commitment to the program. This game is set to kick off at 6 p.m. at Shula Stadium, the first Saturday night game Shula Stadium has seen since the COVID spring of 2021, and the first to be open to the public since 2016.
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JCU Football will have another home contest against Wittenberg on September 26, looking to dominate the Tigers as they did last season. That matchup will be followed by a road game against Washington University in St. Louis, the first game in program history against the Bears.Â
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Homecoming and Hall of Fame Weekend will be on October 17 at Don Shula Stadium, where the Blue Streaks will host the Wabash College Little Giants. Wabash gave John Carroll one of their closest games of 2025, as John Carroll held off a late surge from Wabash to escape with a 31-28 victory.
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JCU Football will continue NCAC play the next weekend, hosting The College of Wooster Fighting Scots. John Carroll will then hit the road, first for a faraway trip and then for one closer to home. On Halloween, JCU will venture to Indiana for what will be a much-anticipated rematch with a titan of the NCAC, the DePauw University Tigers. The hard-fought matchup against DePauw defined the Blue Streaks' regular season in 2025. The Streaks rolled into Greencastle in a torrential downpour and pulled off a miraculous 2-minute drill to capture the NCAC title in their first year in the conference. Then on November 7, JCU will head to Oberlin.
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The Blue Streaks will finish out NCAC play hosting the Denison University Big Red at Don Shula Stadium on November 14. The Streaks finished their 2025 campaign with a 27-point win on the road against Denison, and look to do the same as they aim to be gearing up for the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
