ACC announces 2024 football schedule (2024)

The 2024 ACC football schedule is here, and for the first time, some questions are answered about how the conference will integrate games in California and Texas after the conference’s September additions of Stanford, Cal and SMU.

The new schedule format, in place from 2024 to 2030, won’t have divisions and will feature the top two teams based on conference winning percentage in the ACC championship. Each team will play eight conference games per season, with all 17 squads playing each other at least twice — once at home and once on the road — during the next seven seasons.

The current 14 conference teams will each play a total of three times in California over the seven years. No team ventures west in back-to-back seasons, but Stanford heads east for two straight weeks against Syracuse (Sept. 20) and Clemson (Sept. 28) this year. Stanford’s matchup at Syracuse is its first in conference and Cal’s comes one day later when it travels to Florida State on Sept. 21. SMU’s first conference contest is at home versus Florida State on Sept. 28.

Each team has two bye weeks, excluding FSU and Georgia Tech, which both have three: a present for opening their seasons in Ireland in Week 0. The overseas game will be the first time ESPN’s “College GameDay” will broadcast live outside of the United States.

Week 1 is no less gripping, headlined by a Clemson-Georgia soiree, with all ACC teams competing in the official season opener.

𝗔 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗥𝗔 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗖𝗖 𝗙𝗢𝗢𝗧𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗟.

🗓️ https://t.co/O6gCEI0fHa pic.twitter.com/Nh3v9dIFG2

— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) January 24, 2024

Best matchups of each week

Week 0: FSU versus Georgia Tech on Aug 24 in Ireland. It’s the only Week 0 matchup in the league but still a fun one as the ACC goes overseas.

Week 1: Clemson versus Georgia on Aug. 31 in Atlanta. Two heavyweights going at it on a massive stage. This should be a good litmus test for Dabo Swinney’s Tigers.

Week 2: NC State versus Tennessee in the Duke’s Mayo Classic on Sept. 7 in Charlotte. Both of these teams could be dark horses in their respective conference races. The Duke’s Mayo Classic is always a fun atmosphere, and this matchup features NC State’s strong defense versus Tennessee’s $8 million quarterback, Nico Iamaleava.

Week 3: Pitt versus West Virginia on Sept. 14. The Backyard Brawl is returning to Pittsburgh for the 107th renewal of the series. The last time these two teams played in Acrisure Stadium? The crowd set a Pittsburgh sports record with 70,622 fans. Virginia Tech also travels to Old Dominion, where the Hokies are 0-2. Virginia and Maryland, previously ACC rivals, will kick off in Charlottesville.

Week 4: NC State at Clemson on Sept. 21. You never know what’s going to happen when these two teams meet, but this matchup always delivers. It’s chippy, it’s fun, and it usually has ACC title implications.

Week 5: The weekend of Sept. 28 week is loaded. Virginia Tech and Miami will renew their rivalry on Friday. Then UNC plays at rival Duke on Saturday and Louisville will try to knock off Notre Dame for the second consecutive year.

Week 6: Clemson at Florida State on Oct. 5. The league’s presumed top two teams will go at it again after FSU left Death Valley with an overtime victory in 2023.

Week 7: Stanford at Notre Dame on Oct. 12. These two teams have seen plenty of each other, but not with the Cardinal as a member of the ACC.

Week 8: Louisville versus Miami on Oct. 19. The Cardinals punched their ticket to the ACC Championship Game in 2023 with a win against the Hurricanes.

Week 9: Florida State at Miami on Oct. 26. The Seminoles have a tough stretch between late October and early November, including a road game against the Hurricanes.

Week 10: Louisville at Clemson on Nov. 2. Don’t overlook the Cardinals as another dark horse to compete for the league’s title again. November football is always zany and the stakes could be high.

Week 11: Florida State at Notre Dame on Nov. 9. The Seminoles and Fighting Irish didn’t play in 2023, and meet for the first time since 2021, an overtime thriller that Notre Dame won 41-38.

Week 12: Clemson at Pitt on Nov. 16 will probably be the most exciting game of the week, but this is an otherwise slow week for the league with six teams on an idle week. It might be a good time to get a deeper look at new conference members Cal, Stanford and SMU, which play Syracuse, Louisville and Boston College, respectively.

Week 13: Stanford at Cal on Nov. 23. Could this be the ACC’s next great in-state rivalry? It will be weird to see the two West Coast teams squaring off as members of the ACC, but this is a rivalry that just got a little more intriguing.

Week 14: Rivalry Week will bring a slew of great ACC-SEC matchups: Clemson versus South Carolina, Florida State versus Florida, Georgia Tech at Georgia and Louisville at Kentucky. ACC rivalries North Carolina-NC State and Virginia-Virginia Tech are always a treat, too. Don’t sleep on Wake Forest-Duke either. — Grace Raynor, ACC football staff writer

Early fireworks

Who’s excited for Week 1? In what could be the most highly-anticipated nonconference matchup for the league, Clemson will travel to Atlanta to play Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Aug. 31. While Florida State and Georgia Tech playing each other in Ireland in Week 0 is certainly exciting, and Miami playing at Florida in Week 1 is intriguing, this Clemson-Georgia matchup will be the one to watch. The Bulldogs are the favorites to open the season as the best team in the country.

Odds are they will be bitter from missing out on the College Football Playoff this year and ready to prove they are still the kings of college football. Clemson, meanwhile, is looking to return to its former dominance from its College Football Playoff days. The Tigers had a down year in 2023, losing four games for the first time since 2011.

But a win against a dominant Georgia team in Week 1 would send quite the statement about where the Tigers could be headed. Similarly, a blowout loss could raise concerns again. —Raynor

The cross-country travel picture

One of the biggest questions we all had when Stanford and Cal joined the ACC (along with SMU), was what it might look like logistically for the West Coast schools playing in a predominantly East Coast conference. We now have some answers. Cal will come to the East Coast four times: to play Auburn, Florida State, Pitt and Wake Forest. The Golden Bears never come to the East Coast in consecutive weeks, and their final road game is at SMU in Dallas. Stanford wasn’t so lucky.

The Cardinal play at Syracuse on Sept. 20 (a Friday) and at Clemson just eight days later in Death Valley. Will the Cardinal simply stay on the East Coast that week? Where would they practice, if so? And what would that look like from an academic standpoint for classes? It’s clear the ACC did its best to accommodate both schools, but these are the tricky parts of having a cross-country conference. It doesn’t help matters that Clemson is one of the more difficult schools to get in and out of. The upside for Stanford? The Cardinal come to the East Coast just three times: to play the Orange and Tigers, as well as NC State. The team’s other road games are at Notre Dame, Cal and San Jose State. —Raynor

Florida State’s tough stretch

Florida State took over as the class of the ACC in 2023, going undefeated and winning the conference championship with its third-string quarterback. The Seminoles will look different in 2024 without quarterback Jordan Travis and star receiver Keon Coleman. They also have quite the stretch in November to get through ahead of a potential ACC championship berth. From Oct. 26 through Nov. 9, FSU has a three-week stretch in which it will travel to Miami, host North Carolina and then travel to Notre Dame. How many of those games the Seminoles can afford to lose and still potentially compete for a spot in a 12-team Playoff will be fascinating to see.

Clemson could be the preseason favorite to win the ACC, given the talent the Tigers return, but if FSU were to make the championship game and win it, the Seminoles could be well-positioned for the postseason. That late-October, early-November swing will be crucial in setting the table, though. — Raynor

Required reading

• ACC reveals new football scheduling model for 17-team league: How this changes the conference
• Florida State Board of Trustees files legal challenge to ACC’s exit fee, grant of rights

(Photo: Lee Coleman / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)