The ACC announced Monday its future football schedule model through 2030. With the addition of the ACC’s three new member institutions - California, Southern Methodist and Stanford - the new model will go into effect beginning with the 2024 season.
After more than a month of significant discussions, the format has been adopted by the league’s athletic directors. Some of the key takeaways:
- Eight conference games per season, with all 17 teams playing each other at least twice over the next seven seasons – once at home and once on the road.
- The current 14 conference teams will play a total of three times each in California over the seven years and none will travel to California in back-to-back seasons.
- No divisional play, top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the ACC championship game on the first Saturday in December at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
Here’s a look at the eight conference games on Georgia Tech’s schedule for the next seven years:
2024: Home - Duke, Miami, North Carolina State, Florida State (Aug. 24 in Dublin, Ireland). Away - Louisville, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia Tech.
The Jackets had previously been scheduled to host Clemson, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest next season while traveling to Louisville, North Carolina State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech and going to Ireland to meet FSU.
2025: Home - Clemson, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech. Away - Boston College, Duke, North Carolina State, Wake Forest.
2026: Home - Boston College, Duke, Louisville, Wake Forest. Away - Clemson, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Virginia Tech.
2027: Home - Cal, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia. Away - Florida State, Miami, SMU, Wake Forest.
2028: Home - Clemson, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford. Away - Cal, Duke, Louisville, Virginia.
2029: Home - Florida State, Louisville, Virginia, Virginia Tech. Away - Boston College, Clemson, SMU, Wake Forest.
2030: Home - Boston College, California, SMU, Wake Forest. Away - Louisville, Miami, Stanford and Syracuse.
The new scheduling model protects 16 annual matchups. Of the 16 matchups, 11 are retained from the current 3-5-5 schedule model, two are restored rivalries from the divisional format in Miami-Virginia Tech and North Carolina State-Wake Forest and the three new schools fill the remaining three.
The annual protected matchups are Boston College-Syracuse, Boston College-Pittsburgh, Syracuse-Pittsburgh, North Carolina-Virginia, North Carolina-Duke, North Carolina-North Carolina State, North Carolina State-Wake Forest, North Carolina State-Duke, Duke-Wake Forest, Virginia Tech-Virginia, Florida State-Clemson, Miami-Florida State, Miami-Virginia Tech, Stanford-Cal, Stanford-SMU, and Cal-SMU.
Georgia Tech is one of two ACC teams, along with Louisville, without a permanent opponent. According to ESPN, “both schools agreed they did not need any games protected, and that allowed the league more creativity and flexibility in arranging the entire schedule.”
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