ACC switches up scheduling, releases NC State's annual opponents
In a Tuesday morning press release, the Atlantic Coast Conference officially announced the elimination of its divisional structure for football and the traditional format of its conference championship game, while also releasing the NC State’s home and away matchups for the next four seasons.
The ACC now moves to a 3-5-5 scheduling model in 2023, meaning the Wolfpack will match up against the same three teams each year, with games against the remaining ten schools occurring on a rotating basis.
NC State will play Clemson, UNC and Duke every year. The Wolfpack will face each of the 10 other ACC programs twice over a four year span, hosting and traveling to each university in that time period. At the end of each regular season, the top-two teams in conference winning percentage will compete for the ACC title on the first Saturday of December.
Following the announcement, NC State’s in-conference schedule is now set through the 2026 season. Here are the matchups from the press release.
2023
Home – Clemson, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina
Away – Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
2024
Home – Duke, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Wake Forest
Away – Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Pitt
2025
Home – Clemson, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Away – Boston College, Duke, Louisville, Miami
2026
Home – Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Pitt
Away – Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Syracuse
It is immediately apparent that the Wolfpack will have an extremely intriguing start to the conference’s new format in 2023, hosting perennial powerhouse Clemson along with in-state rival North Carolina. Combining that with appearances, from Louisville and Miami, two programs that appear to be on the upswing, and NC State is looking at quite the home schedule next fall.
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That flips the following season, as NC state will then travel to two of their primary opponents and will also make trips to Florida State and Pittsburgh. Under the new scheduling model, NC State will either host or travel to both Clemson and UNC in the same season.
Notably left off the list of NC State’s primary opponents is in-state rival Wake Forest, who will play Virginia Tech, UNC and UVA each season. The Wolfpack will not play the Demon Deacons in 2025 or 2026.
This model was agreed to earlier this morning, following a decision by the NCAA Division I Council to stop regulating how conferences decide to select who plays in their championship games.
“The future ACC football scheduling model provides significant enhancements for our schools and conference, with the most important being our student-athletes having the opportunity to play every school both home and away over a four-year period,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips wrote in the press release. “We appreciate the thoughtful discussions within our membership, including the head football coaches and athletic directors. In the end, it was clear this model is in the best interest of our student-athletes, programs and fans, at this time.”
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