Week 1 schedule for SMU, ACC programs revealed
SMU Football opens the 2024 season against Houston Christian inside Gerald J. Ford Stadium on August 31. Now, the Mustangs knew that already, but the Atlantic Coast Conference announced the rest of the schedule on Monday.
Game times and TV coverage will be announced at a later time.
Houston Christian will have a new head coach as Jason Bachtel takes over for Braxton Harris, who left for Campbell. Bachtel was the Huskies’ offensive coordinator, playing a pivotal role in the program’s first winning season and leading the Southland Conference’s number two scoring offense.
For the rest of the ACC, the schedule was revealed. After Florida State and Georgia Tech play in Week 0 in Dublin, Week 1 begins on Thursday. North Carolina will travel to Minnesota in a rematch from last season, NC State will host Western Carolina, and Wake Forest will open the season at home versus North Carolina A&T.
Friday, Aug. 30, will see Stanford host TCU, while Duke will kick off its first year under new head coach Manny Diaz with a home contest versus Elon.
Saturday’s slate is highlighted by three ACC/SEC matchups, including the 2024 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between Clemson and Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, a non-conference in-state rivalry showdown with Miami traveling to Florida, and Virginia Tech on the road at Vanderbilt.
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Pitt will open up at home versus Kent State, Syracuse will host Ohio, and Louisville will take on Austin Peay in Louisville, Kentucky. In-state matchups on Saturday include Cal hosting UC Davis, Georgia Tech versus Georgia State, and Virginia hosting Richmond.
On Tuesday, the ACC Network will announce Thursday and Friday games for the league’s members during ACC PM, which begins at 3 p.m. CT. On Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. CT on ACC Huddle, SMU and the rest of the league will learn its full 2024 schedule.
SMU finished 11-3 overall and unbeaten in American Athletic Conference play in 2023, capturing the AAC Championship. For head coach Rhett Lashlee, he’s proud of what his team accomplished on its way to a new league.
“I think as years go by in their life, they’ll look back and know what they did for our program to get us to this position to where we’re going into the ACC as a championship program,” Lashlee said after the Fenway Bowl. “There’s a lot of work to be done to try to compete for it in that league. But they put us in a position for guys like Kevin (Jennings) and the others coming back to now trying to take the next step. I think this team’s really special, and for our school it’s fairly historic. So hopefully it goes down and remember that way, not the way we played today.”
