ACC football schedule plan is out. How the addition of Stanford, Cal, SMU changed things
The addition of three new teams to the ACC’s membership — all three from outside its traditional East Coast footprint — means the conference’s football teams will once again feel more disconnected.
One year after introducing a football scheduling model that scrapped divisions to allow all teams to face each other more often, the league is moving in another direction beginning next season now that Stanford, California and Southern Methodist will join the league in 2024.
The new seven-year scheduling plan for the 2024-30 seasons, announced Monday night, continues without divisions and features 16 annual matchups, like Clemson-Florida State, Virginia-Virginia Tech and Duke-North Carolina.
But, it also means some ACC teams will face each other as few as twice over a seven-year period, and other matchups will happen only three times in the next seven years. That’s different than the model in place this season that had every team playing at least twice over a four-year period.
With a 17-team league that spreads over three time zones, such sacrifices were made while limiting frequent cross-country trips, keeping most regional rivalries intact and, of course, providing matchups the TV networks covet most.
“Throughout the entire scheduling model process,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement, “the membership was incredibly thoughtful and purposeful in building a creative, flexible and aggressive conference scheduling model while keeping the student-athlete experience at the forefront.”
Each team will continue playing eight ACC games per season. The division-less setup, which began this season, will continue so the top two teams in the final regular-season standings will annually play in the ACC title game in Charlotte on December’s first Saturday.
None of the existing 14 teams will travel to California in back-to-back seasons, but they will all make three trips to play in California over the next seven seasons.
Duke, for example, doesn’t make its first league trip to the West Coast until 2025 when it plays at Cal. The Blue Devils’ first ACC game with Stanford will be a home game in 2026.
The schedule increases the number of protected annual matchups to 16, five more than were included in the current 3-3-5 model.
Duke, UNC and N.C. State will continue to play each other each season. Wake Forest will play Duke and N.C. State annually. But an annual Wake Forest-UNC league game is not on the schedule. Instead, UNC will play Virginia each season. The Tar Heels and Demon Deacons will play four times over the next seven seasons, though, including 2024, 2025, 2027 and 2028.
Stanford-Cal, SMU-Cal and Stanford-SMU will be the newest annual ACC games beginning next season.
The league’s three Northeastern U.S. teams, Boston College, Syracuse and Pittsburgh, will all play each other every season.
Other annual matchups include Virginia Tech-Virginia, Miami-Virginia Tech, Miami-Florida State and Florida State-Clemson.
Georgia Tech and Louisville have no annual league opponents. Clemson only has Florida State. Every other league team has at least two annual opponents, with Duke, N.C.State and UNC each having three.
One of the casualties is that N.C. State is no longer playing Clemson on an annual basis. They are scheduled to play at Clemson in 2024.
UNC’s 2024 schedule does not include any of the three new teams. The Tar Heels first play at Cal in 2025, the same season Stanford comes to play in Chapel Hill. UNC’s first ACC game with SMU won’t come until 2028 at Kenan Stadium.
Future ACC opponents
DUKE
2024
Home: North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Florida State, SMU
Road: NC State, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Miami
2025
Home: NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Georgia Tech
Road: Syracuse, North Carolina, Clemson, California
2026
Home: Boston College, North Carolina, Clemson, Stanford
Road: NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Georgia Tech,
2027
Home: Louisville, Miami, NC State, Wake Forest
Away: Florida State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Stanford
2028
Home: Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia
Away: Boston College, Miami, NC State, Wake Forest
2029
Home: Pittsburgh, NC State, Stanford, Wake Forest
Away: California, Louisville, North Carolina, Virginia Tech
2030
Home: California, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina
Away: Clemson, NC State, SMU, Wake Forest
NORTH CAROLINA
2024
Home: Georgia Tech, NC State, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest
Away: Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Virginia
2025
Home: Clemson, Duke, Stanford, Virginia
Away: California, NC State, Syracuse, Wake Forest
2026
Home: Louisville, Miami, NC State, Syracuse
Away: Clemson, Duke, Pittsburgh, Virginia
2027
Home: Duke, Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Away: Georgia Tech, NC State, Stanford, Wake Forest
2028
Home: Boston College, NC State, Stanford, Wake Forest
Away: Duke, Florida State, SMU, Virginia
2029
Home: California, Clemson, Duke, Virginia
Away: Louisville, Miami, NC State, Virginia Tech
2030
Home: Miami, NC State, SMU, Virginia Tech
Away: California, Clemson, Duke, Virginia
NC STATE
2024
Home: Duke, Stanford, Syracuse, Wake Forest
Road: Cal, Clemson, Georgia Tech, UNC
2025
Home: Florida State. Georgia Tech, UNC, Virginia Tech
Road: Duke, Miami, Pitt, Wake Forest
2026
Home: Cal, Duke, Louisville, Wake Forest
Road: Florida State, UNC, Stanford, Virginia Tech
2027
Home: Clemson, Miami, UNC, Pitt
Away: Duke, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake
2028
Home: Boston College, Duke, SMU, Wake Forest
Away: Cal, Clemson, Louisville, UNC
2029
Home: Miami, UNC, Pitt, Virginia
Away: Duke, Florida State, SMU, Wake Forest
2030
Home: Duke, Louisville, Stanford, Wake Forest
Away: Boston College, UNC, Pitt, Virginia Tech
WAKE FOREST
2024
Home: Cal, Clemson, Duke, Virginia
Road: Miami, UNC, NC State, Stanford
2025
Home: Georgia Tech, UNC, NC State, SMU
Road: Duke, Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech
2026
Home: Duke, Miami, Stanford, Virginia
Road: Cal, Georgia Tech, NC State, SMU
2027
Home: Georgia Tech, UNC, NC State, SMU
Away: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Louisville
2028
Home: Cal, Duke, Florida State, Virginia Tech
Away: UNC, NC State, Pitt, Syracuse
2029
Home: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State
Away: Duke, Miami, Stanford, Virginia
2030
Home: Clemson, Duke, Pitt, Syracuse
Away: Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, Virginia Tech
This story was originally published October 30, 2023 at 6:00 PM with the headline "ACC football schedule plan is out. How the addition of Stanford, Cal, SMU changed things."