Stanford, Cal to make history with first ACC football games |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference is set to make history this weekend as two new members, Stanford and Cal, will play their first ACC game in Week 4 of the 2024 college football season.
Stanford’s first conference game as a member of the ACC will kick off at Syracuse on Friday, September 20, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The following day, Saturday, September 21, Cal will play its first ACC game as a league member at Florida State at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Both games mark the first-ever meeting between the now-conference foes on the football field. Cal, Stanford, and SMU were admitted as ACC members on September 1, 2023. SMU officially joined the ACC on July 1, 2024, while Cal and Stanford became full-time members on August 2, 2024. This will be the first time Stanford plays a conference game not as part of the Pac-12 Conference since joining the then-Pacific Coast Conference in 1919. Similarly, Cal's game against Florida State will be its first conference game not as a member of the Pac-12, which it helped establish in 1915. Both Stanford and Cal were members of the Pac-12 - previously known as the PCC, AAWU, Pac-8 and Pac-10 - for over 100 years. The two ACC teams have a chance to join seven other full-time ACC members both current and former, as well as Notre Dame in 2020, in winning their first conference game as part of the ACC. Duke, North Carolina, and Maryland were all victorious in their first ACC games in 1953, the first season of the conference. Florida State won its first ACC game in 1992, while Miami and Virginia Tech won their first conference games as members of the ACC in 2004. Louisville also won its first conference game in its inaugural year in the ACC in 2014. Notre Dame, which played a full ACC schedule in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, also won its first ACC game that season. In contrast, nine teams, both former and current members, lost their first conference game as ACC members. The ACC will have 16 teams in action in Week 4 with four conference games and eight non-conference games, starting with Friday night’s ACC matchup between Stanford and Syracuse on the 44th anniversary of the JMA Dome and concluding with Boston College hosting Michigan State in the Red Bandanna Game on Saturday night. The 20th ACC Football Championship Game will kick off in primetime at 8 p.m. ET on ABC on Saturday, December 7, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tickets for the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship Game are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com and through the ACC’s official website at theACC.com.
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