North Carolina A&T is heading to the Big South Conference.
The move will be effective starting in the 2021-22 academic year with 16 of NC A&T's 17 sports being sponsored by the Big South, including football. The Aggies will be immediately eligible for conference championships. The Big South football champion has an automatic bid into the FCS playoffs and received an at-large bid in 2019 to send two teams to the postseason.
NC A&T was a founding member of the MEAC in 1971. In 2015, the MEAC decided to decline its automatic bid into the FCS playoffs and instead have its conference champion play the SWAC champion for the HBCU national championship, or the Celebration Bowl.
The Aggies have won four of the five Celebration Bowls. In 2016, when the Aggies didn't appear in the title game, they earned an at-large bid in the FCS playoffs, losing to Richmond in the first round.
NC A&T is routinely ranked in the Top 25 polls, finishing No. 20 in the final 2019 STATS poll. The Aggies have beaten ranked FCS nonconference opponents, defeated three FBS opponents from 2016-2018 and have gone 50-10 overall since 2015.
