Yahoo News ACC, now featuring Notre Dame, releases its full 2020 football schedule
The full ACC football schedule was released Thursday morning after the conference announced its unique 11-game format last week.
The temporarily 15-team ACC — Notre Dame now included — has mapped out 10-game conference schedules (five home, five road) with each member responsible for adding a non-conference game to round out their respective 11-game slates. The non-conference game must be played in the home state of the ACC team with each non-conference opponent agreeing to “meet the medical protocol requirements” set by the ACC as the conference attempts to have football amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The first game will be played Thursday, Sept. 10 when Miami hosts UAB for its non-conference game with the last collection of games slated for Saturday, Dec. 5. In all, it’s a schedule that spans 13 weeks and includes “strategically-placed open dates” to allow for flexibility should any games be postponed due to coronavirus issues.
If all goes according to plan, the ACC title game will be held on either Dec. 12 or 19 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. There are no divisions in 2020 and Notre Dame, typically an independent FBS program, is eligible for the ACC championships. The ACC championship game will feature the top two teams in the conference based on winning percentage.
“The health, safety and well-being of all our campus constituents is at the forefront of all decisions and the schedule announcement follows several months of discussion and scenario planning among the league membership and the ACC’s Medical Advisory Group,” the conference said.
Here is a look at the schedule in its entirety:
The wait is over.
More info » https://t.co/yJUXpEhokA pic.twitter.com/W3LJACMP8r— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) August 6, 2020
Non-conference opponents revealed
All but two ACC teams, Clemson and North Carolina (both currently have Sept. 19 open), have their non-conference opponents set.
The ACC, in a move that would have allowed for in-state ACC-SEC rivalry games (Clemson-South Carolina, Louisville-Kentucky, Georgia-Georgia Tech) and Florida-Florida State to remain on the schedule, called for non-conference games to remain in the home state of the ACC member. But when the SEC decided to play a 10-game, conference-only schedule, ACC members looked elsewhere and scheduled mostly Group of Five or FCS opponents. Or in the case of NC State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech, Liberty, an FBS independent, got the call.
Those agreements are significant financial wins for the lower-level programs that landed on these ACC schedules.
Notre Dame will host Western Michigan on Sept. 19, and it’s notable because it means the Irish won’t be playing Navy for the first time since 1927. That ends a streak of 93 consecutive seasons.
Boston College: Ohio (Sept. 12)
Duke: Charlotte (Oct. 31)
Florida State: Samford (Sept. 19)
Georgia Tech: UCF (Sept. 19)
Louisville: Western Kentucky (Sept. 12)
Miami: UAB (Sept. 10)
NC State: Liberty (Nov. 21)
Notre Dame: Western Michigan (Sept. 19)
Pittsburgh: Miami (Ohio) (Sept. 12)
Syracuse: Liberty (Oct. 17)
Virginia: VMI (Sept. 11)
Virginia Tech: Liberty (Nov. 7)
Wake Forest: Old Dominion (Oct. 9)
More from Yahoo Sports:
