Television designations for five premier Atlantic Coast Conference football games were announced Tuesday, May 14 as part of the ESPN Up Front presentation.
The 2024 fall season will be the first to feature 17 ACC football programs with the addition of Cal, SMU and Stanford. The 17-team conference scheduling model was announced last October.
Week 0 – Saturday, Aug. 24
2024 Aer Lingus College Football Classic (Dublin, Ireland) – Florida State vs. Georgia Tech, noon ET on ESPN
Week 1 – Friday, Aug. 30
TCU at Stanford, 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Week 1 – Saturday, Aug. 31
2024 Aflac Kickoff Game – Clemson vs. Georgia, noon ET on ABC
Miami at Florida, 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC
Week 1 – Monday, Sept. 2
Boston College at Florida State, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
“We look forward to the upcoming football season that will feature 17 league football members competing on a national stage,” said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. “We appreciate our Disney and ESPN partners and look forward to kicking off the season on August 24, with ESPN’s College GameDay making its first trip outside of the United States to feature Florida State and Georgia Tech in the 2024 Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland.”
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will broadcast live for the first time from Dublin, Ireland, for the Week 0 ACC matchup between Florida State and Georgia Tech to kick off the 2024 season. This will mark the first time that ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will emanate from outside the United States.
The ACC’s non-conference schedule continues to be among the most challenging in the country. In addition to 27 games against Power 4 opponents, including Notre Dame, the ACC will play nine non-conference games against teams ranked in the final 2023 Associated Press Top 25 Poll and 10 non-conference games against teams in ESPN’s 2024 Way-Too-Early Top 25.
Eleven schools – Boston College, California, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Pitt, SMU, Stanford, Virginia and Virginia Tech – are scheduled to play two Power 4 conference opponents (including Notre Dame) this season.
All 17 ACC teams are scheduled to play at least six games versus bowl teams from last season, highlighted by Georgia Tech slated to play 11 games against a team that played in a bowl game last season.
In partnership with Disney/ESPN, the ACC experienced its most-watched football season in the College Football Playoff (CFP) era.
ACC Notes
In ESPN’s updated 2024 Way Too Early College Football Top 25 rankings, the ACC has five teams ranked.
Last season, four ACC teams finished in the top 25 of both the Associated Press (AP) and AFCA Coaches Polls.
In the AP poll, Florida State finished tied for No. 6, while Louisville was No. 19, Clemson was No. 20, and NC State was ranked No. 21.
In the AFCA Coaches poll, Florida State was No. 6, Louisville was No. 18, and Clemson and NC State were No. 20 and No. 21, respectively.
Four teams were ranked in last year’s final College Football Playoff (CFP) Top 25 rankings.
The four ACC teams were tied for the second-most among all FBS conferences.
Florida State (No. 5), Louisville (No. 15), NC State (No. 18), and Clemson (No. 22).
Over two-thirds of the ACC was bowl-eligible last year, as 11 of the 14 conference teams made a bowl game.
The 11 ACC bowl-eligible teams were the most among all Power 5 conferences.
The 11 teams also matched a conference-high from 2018.
Not including the pandemic-affected 2020 season, the ACC has sent at least nine teams to a bowl every year since 2016. Since 2013, the ACC ranks second among all conferences with 111 postseason appearances.
Six different ACC teams started the 2023 season a year ago at 4-0, which tied the SEC in 2012 for the most teams in a Power 5 conference to start 4-0 in a single season in the AP Poll Era (since 1936).
The ACC finished with 10 teams posting a winning record, only the second time in the playoff era (11 – 2016) that the conference has achieved that feat.
ACC teams totaled a combined 43 wins over teams with a record over .500 last season, the most among all FBS conferences.
The ACC again posted a solid record in non-conference play last season, going 44-23 (.657) overall. The ACC’s 44 non-conference wins were the second-most among all FBS conferences.
In 2023, the ACC was a combined 7-5 versus the SEC, which marked the ACC’s third winning season versus the SEC and its second-most wins versus the SEC in the past 20 years (5-3 – 2014; 10-4 – 2016; 7-5 – 2023).
Atlantic Coast Conference