ACC announces 2013 football schedule |
GREENSBORO, N.C.--The 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference football schedule released Monday by Commissioner John Swofford is a slate which is the largest in league history, incorporating new league members Pittsburgh and Syracuse into the 14-team ACC, and it may also be one of the most ambitious in the league’s 61-year history.
Ambitious because conference members are playing 11 games against non-conference opponents that finished the 2012 football season ranked in the nation’s Top 25, nine games with non-conference teams ranked in the final AP Top Ten, including contests against each of the top four teams in the USA Today’s final poll. Nine games are against teams projected by ESPN in its Early Top 10 for the 2013 season. "The 2013 ACC Football schedule showcases some tremendous matchups this year as our league is arguably playing the toughest nonconference schedule in the country," said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. "This is an exciting year as we look forward to welcoming Pitt and Syracuse into the ACC. Both teams are opening league play at home, with Florida State at Pitt on Labor Day Monday Night and in its first ACC game, Clemson at Syracuse in the Carrier Dome." No other BCS Automatic Qualifier conferences will play more than eight non-conference games against 2012 Top 25 foes and no more than four games against 2012 Top 10 non-conference opponents. When Florida State (8th) and Clemson (9th), each ranked in the final USA Today Top 10, are included in the schedule, ACC teams will face eight of the final Top 10 teams in the Coaches poll. The Conference will again enjoy national exposure on Labor Day Monday, as Pitt, in its first ACC football game, hosts defending ACC champion Florida State at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa., in a nationally-televised prime-time contest on ESPN. The game, which will have an 8 pm (ET) kickoff, will nationally showcase a pair of opponents who have not met on the gridiron in 30 years. The Seminoles last ventured to Pittsburgh in 1983. The game will mark the sixth time the Seminoles have appeared on the ACC’s Labor Day Monday Night contest. In all, the schedule is comprised of 113 games and incorporates new conference members Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Syracuse will compete in the Atlantic Division and will play its first official ACC game against Clemson at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on Oct. 5. Pitt will compete in the ACC’s Coastal Division. All ACC teams will face eight conference opponents. The schedule includes 56 regular-season conference match-ups over a span of 14 weeks and is capped off with the Ninth Annual Dr Pepper Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship Game, which returns to Charlotte, N.C. this year and will be played on Saturday, Dec. 7 in Bank of America Stadium. ACC teams will face 56 games against 48 nonconference opponents which had a combined winning percentage of .558 in 2012--by far the highest of any of the BCS AQ Conferences--including 43 games against FBS opponents who won .566 percent of their games last fall, also the highest. From the final 2012 USA Today poll, ACC teams will face national champion Alabama (Virginia Tech), No. 2-ranked Oregon (Virginia), No. 3-ranked Notre Dame (Pitt) and No. 4-ranked Georgia (Georgia Tech, Clemson), as well as No. 7 South Carolina (North Carolina, Clemson) and No. 10 Florida (Miami, Florida State). Twenty-three of the league’s 56 nonconference games (41 percent) are against 17 teams that earned bowl berths in 2012, again the most of any AQ league. Including games against the eight ACC teams which earned bowl bids in 2012, no ACC team plays fewer than five opponents who went to bowl games last fall, with Virginia facing the most with eight followed by Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Pitt and Wake Forest with seven each. Adding in North Carolina (8-4) and Miami (7-5), no ACC school will play fewer than six teams with six or more wins, including Virginia which will face a league-high 10 opponents followed by Georgia Tech and Pitt, which will each face nine foes who had six or more wins in 2012. ACC teams will also play nine non-conference games against six teams selected by ESPN.com in its early preseason Top 25 including matches with projected top-ranked Alabama (Virginia Tech), fifth-ranked Oregon (Virginia), sixth-ranked Georgia (Clemson and Georgia Tech), seventh-ranked Florida (Miami and Florida State), ninth-ranked Notre Dame (Pitt) and 10th-ranked South Carolina (North Carolina and Clemson). ACC schools will play a total of 11 non-conference games against teams tabbed by ESPN.com in the early preseason Top 25 as Syracuse will also face Northwestern (projected to be 24th) and Wake Forest will play at Vanderbilt (projected to be 25th). Clemson is ranked 11th and Florida State 16th in the most recent ESPN Preseason Top 25. Nonconference opponents who earned bowl bids this past season include Alabama, Ball State, BYU (2 games with the ACC), Central Michigan, East Carolina (3 games), Florida (2 games), Georgia (2 games), Louisiana Monroe, Navy (2 games), Nevada, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oregon, Southern California, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and West Virginia. In all, the ACC will play five games nationally-televised by ESPN on Thursday night beginning with North Carolina travelling to South Carolina (Aug. 29) for the first Thursday night game of the year on ESPN. NC State then hosts Clemson on Thursday night (Sept. 19) followed by Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech (Sept. 26); Miami at North Carolina (Oct. 17) and Georgia Tech at Clemson (Nov. 14). The league will also play two games nationally-televised Friday games, with Boston College hosting and Wake Forest on Sept. 6, a game which will have an 8 p.m. kickoff and will be televised by ESPN or ESPN2; and Pittsburgh hosting Miami on Thanksgiving Friday, Nov. 29, in a game which will be televised by ABC, ESPN or ESPN2, with the game time to be determined at a later date.
CLEMSON
2013 ACC COMPOSITE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE WEEK-BY-WEEK
Thursday, August 29
North Carolina at South Carolina, ESPN
Presbyterian at Wake Forest
Friday, August 30
Florida Atlantic at Miami
Saturday, August 31
Villanova at Boston College
Georgia at Clemson
NC Central at Duke
Elon at Georgia Tech
Florida International at Maryland
Louisiana Tech at NC State
Penn State at Syracuse
MetLife Stadium, The Meadowlands,
East Rutherford, N.J.
BYU at Virginia
Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
Chick-fil-A Kickoff
Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga.
Monday, September 2
Florida State at Pittsburgh, ESPN, 8 pm
Friday, September 6
Wake Forest at Boston College, ESPN or ESPN2
Saturday, September 7
South Carolina State at Clemson
Duke at Memphis
Old Dominion at Maryland
Florida at Miami
Middle Tennessee at North Carolina
Richmond at NC State
Syracuse at Northwestern
Oregon at Virginia
Western Carolina at Virginia Tech
Saturday, September 14
Boston College at Southern California
Georgia Tech at Duke
Nevada at Florida State
Maryland at Connecticut
New Mexico at Pittsburgh
Wagner at Syracuse
Virginia Tech at East Carolina
Louisiana-Monroe at Wake Forest
Thursday, September 19
Clemson at NC State, ESPN
Saturday, September 21
Pittsburgh at Duke
Bethune-Cookman at Florida State
North Carolina at Georgia Tech
West Virginia at Maryland
M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, Md.
Savannah State at Miami
Tulane at Syracuse
VMI at Virginia
Marshall at Virginia Tech
Wake Forest at Army
Thursday, September 26
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, ESPN
Saturday, September 28
Florida State at Boston College
Wake Forest at Clemson
Troy at Duke
Miami at South Florida
East Carolina at North Carolina
Central Michigan at NC State
Virginia at Pittsburgh
Saturday, October 5
Army at Boston College
Clemson at Syracuse
Maryland at Florida State
Georgia Tech at Miami
North Carolina at Virginia Tech
NC State at Wake Forest
Ball State at Virginia
Saturday, October 12
Boston College at Clemson
Navy at Duke
Georgia Tech at BYU
Virginia at Maryland
Syracuse at NC State
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech
Thursday, October 17
Miami at North Carolina, ESPN
Saturday, October 19
Florida State at Clemson
Duke at Virginia
Syracuse at Georgia Tech
Maryland at Wake Forest
Old Dominion at Pittsburgh
Saturday, October 26
Boston College at North Carolina
Clemson at Maryland
Duke at Virginia Tech
NC State at Florida State
Georgia Tech at Virginia
Wake Forest at Miami
Pittsburgh at Navy
Saturday, November 2
Virginia Tech at Boston College
Clemson at Virginia
Miami at Florida State
Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech
North Carolina at NC State
Wake Forest at Syracuse
Saturday, November 9
Boston College at New Mexico State
NC State at Duke
Florida State at Wake Forest
Syracuse at Maryland
Virginia Tech at Miami
Virginia at North Carolina
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh
Thursday, November 14
Georgia Tech at Clemson, ESPN
Saturday, November 16
NC State at Boston College
Miami at Duke
Syracuse at Florida State
Maryland at Virginia Tech
North Carolina at Pittsburgh
Saturday, November 23
Boston College at Maryland
The Citadel at Clemson
Duke at Wake Forest
Idaho at Florida State
Alabama A&M at Georgia Tech
Virginia at Miami
Old Dominion at North Carolina
East Carolina at NC State
Pittsburgh at Syracuse
Friday, November 29
Miami at Pittsburgh, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
Saturday, November 30
Boston College at Syracuse
Clemson at South Carolina
Duke at North Carolina
Florida State at Florida
Georgia at Georgia Tech
Maryland at NC State
Virginia Tech at Virginia
Wake Forest at Vanderbilt
Saturday, December 7
Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
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