With the ACC’s announcement of a 10-game league roster in 2020 with no Atlantic or coastal divisions, things will look very different for all three Triangle schools should the season take place. For a full schedule, click here to view the league’s schedule model: dates, times and TV networks have yet to be announced, but local and road opponents have. The games will be played starting the week of September 7 and will be played for 13 weeks with two dates open for each school.
Notre Dame will also play a 10-game ACC board and will be eligible for the ACC Championship game, to be played on December 12 or 19.
The league will also allow ACC teams to play against an enemy outside of the conference that meets the league’s minimum medical standards. The non-conference game must be played in the home state of each ACC team, the league said.
All three Triangle schools were slated to play an FCS team, but those teams are unlikely to have the resources to meet those standards. But guesswork can be made as to which enemy outside of the conference each home team could pick.
The good news is that all North Carolina ACC schools – Wake, North Carolina, Duke and NC State – will play against each other this year, reducing potential travel problems and giving local fans the right to brag about each other. Teams in all divisions are not found as often as Wake Forest and NC State are among teams in the Atlantic Division (along with Clemson, Boston College, Florida State, Louisville, and Syracuse) and North Carolina and Duke in the coastal side (with Georgia Tech, Miami, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Virginia Tech).
North Carolina and NC State play each other as rivals between divisions every year, but Duke and NC State have played only three times since the league expanded into divisions in 2004. They were slated to play each other this year, however. year, but the showdown will stop it from now on. Duke and Wake Forest are also cross-division rivals that face off each year, but the Demon Deacons aren’t always guaranteed to see North Carolina. However, the two have played more than Duke and NC State have met seven times since 2004, although one of the meetings was an out-of-conference matchup (last year).
North Carolina’s schedule originally pitted them against three non-conference opponents: Game 1 of the season in Central Florida, at Auburn in Atlanta on September 12, and then hosted by FCS James Madison and UConn. The ACC and SEC have already been discussing the continuation of some of their regional rivalries within the conference, so in all likelihood, Auburn’s game is the one UNC would keep.
UNC’s ACC roster included his regular confrontations against enemies of the Coastal Division, plus his annual divisional confrontation with NC State and one more with Boston College. On their new roster, the Tar Heels will host NC State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest, while traveling to take on Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Miami, and Virginia. UNC was already supposed to play four of those road games (Florida State is the only addition) and two of the home games (NC State and Virginia Tech), but it will add Notre Dame, Syracuse and Wake Forest to the mix.
UNC was supposed to travel to face Notre Dame in South Bend in 2021 and receive the Irish in 2022.
NC State’s schedule becomes very heavy on the coast as it will play with all seven teams. The Wolfpack was only slated to play Duke at home (which it still is) and in North Carolina (which it still is). NC State’s other four home games will be Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami and Wake Forest, while their other four away games will be in Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia and Virginia Tech. NC State also avoids playing the mighty Clemson for the first time. time since 1970.
The Wolfpack conference schedule would not be the state of Mississippi at home, in Troy, FCS Delaware at home and would host Liberty later in the season. In all likelihood, NC State would try to keep its confrontation with Mississippi State intact.
Duke, meanwhile, did not have a Power 5 opponent among his enemies who were not in the conference: Notre Dame was considered one of them at the time. Duke was scheduled to play Elon, but that is unlikely since Elon is an FCS team. Then it will be Middle Tennessee State or Charlotte, unless Duke can find a new opponent.
The ACC board of the Blue Devils also changes quite a bit. Duke will keep his road games game at Notre Dame, NC State, and Georgia Tech, but he will go to Virginia instead of hosting the Cavaliers and not play Miami, but instead play Syracuse for his fifth road game.
Duke will keep home games with North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, but will add Boston College and Florida State.
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