While Duke and NC State were playing a heated hoops battle in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday night, the ACC unveiled its complete 2025 football schedule. Despite the curious timing of the schedule release — 9 p.m. seriously? — we now know who our state’s Big Four teams will face on the gridiron this fall, and in what order.
Thankfully, the ACC has preserved each of the rivalry match-ups between Duke, State, Carolina and Wake again this season. Duke won the mythical Big Four/State championship a year ago, sweeping the rival Pack, Heels and Deacs on its way to a nine-win campaign.
Most of this year’s Big Four round-robin will be played in November, though we’ll get a taste in mid-September with a Thursday night NC State at Wake Forest showdown and a Duke-NCSU battle in Durham the following week.
Before getting you back to heart of ACC basketball season — Duke and Carolina play in Cameron Indoor this weekend! — here are early observations on the upcoming 2025 ACC football campaign in our state:
To View Each School’s Individual 2025 Schedule, Click on the Link Below:
North Carolina Football Schedule
Big Four Spread Out On Opening Weekend
The ACC has had a habit the past few seasons of putting Triangle teams in the same TV time slots on Saturday game days (even on the first Thursday before Labor Day). That is certainly not the case on opening weekend this season. Our state’s four ACC teams will each have a day to themselves over the 2025 Labor Day stretch.
NC State will kick things off Thursday, Aug. 28 against visiting East Carolina. Wake Forest will debut the Jake Dickert coaching era on Friday, Aug. 29 against newly minted FBS program Kennesaw State. Duke hosts Elon on Saturday, Aug. 30, while North Carolina and new coach Bill Belichick will get primetime billing on Monday night at home against TCU.
(The ACC also scheduled two games involving league teams for Labor Day Sunday — Notre Dame at Miami and Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina in Charlotte — so there will be five consecutive days of ACC football).
Here Are When The Big Four Rivalry Games Will Be
While the ACC has grown in recent years, the league finally wised up to the idea that all of the Old North State’s football rivals need to play each other every season. Once again, we’ll be treated to a true round-robin between the Pack, Heels, Deacs and Devils.
NC State will visit Wake Forest to kick things off on Thursday, Sept. 11. The Wolfpack will host Duke the following Saturday, Sept. 20.
The rest of the Big Four round-robin comes in November. UNC visits Wake Forest on Nov. 15 and hosts Duke on Nov. 22. The Tar Heels make the short trek to NC State on the final Saturday of the regular season (Nov. 29) while Duke will host Wake on the same day. Let’s hope ACC scheduling gurus are smart enough to put those two games, of vast importance in our state, in different time slots.
Favorable Schedule For Belichick, Tar Heels
UNC will play its first three games and its last three within the state’s borders. The Tar Heels will follow up the TCU opener with a short trip to Charlotte to face the 49ers and then will host Richmond from the FCS ranks.
The conference opener will be at home against Clemson on Oct. 4. The ACC gave the Heels an open date before that game and afterward, so extra time to prepare (and recover?).
North Carolina dodges ACC runner-up SMU again this season, as well as traditional upper division finishers like Miami, Florida State, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech. This is also a year when Notre Dame doesn’t show up on their schedule.
The Heels do travel to Syracuse on Halloween night (Friday), a potentially tough environment. There is a road trip to California a few weeks earlier.
The Cal game is the only date not settled on the calendar. It will be either Thursday, Oct. 16 or Friday, Oct. 17. The final determination will come in the next few weeks. Either way, North Carolina will play three non-Saturday games this season, lots of extra visibility for what promises to be a high profile season under Belichick.
Can the Heels parlay a favorable set-up to make a run at the ACC championship game? One of the upper-echelon bowls? A better record than Mack Brown was able to achieve in his second stint as head coach?
Duke Ready To Defend ‘State Championship’
The Blue Devils overachieved in a big way in 2024 in the first season of the Manny Diaz era. The Devils won nine games, swept the Pack, Heels and Deacs and ended a long drought against Florida State.
Circle Sept. 13 on your calendars, Duke fans, for a unique non-conference game. That Saturday, the Blue Devils will visit Tulane, one of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference. Duke just poached Tulane’s starting quarterback, Darian Mensah, from the transfer portal. Will there be bad blood?
Illinois (Sept. 6) will represent another non-conference challenge, and Duke will travel to an improved Connecticut program later in the season (Nov. 8). There are no gimmes on the non-conference schedule.
The ACC slate features road trips to Syracuse, Clemson, UNC and California. Home conference games will be against Wake Forest, Virginia, Georgia Tech and NC State. Getting back to nine wins will be a challenge for sure, but we said this about Duke last year and they did it.
Grueling Closing Stretch For Wolfpack
The first part of the schedule will feel like the old days for the Red and White, with games against familiar rivals ECU, Virginia, Wake Forest and Duke. The Pack then hosts Virginia Tech and FCS Campbell.
From there, the schedule takes a upturn in challenge level, at least from a traditional prestige standpoint.
NC State renews its occasional series with Notre Dame (2024 national runner-up) on Oct. 11, then will visit Pitt (7-6 in 2024) after an open date. The season closes against Georgia Tech (7-6), Miami (10-3), Florida State (2-10, though 13-1 in 2023) and North Carolina (6-7).
The Pack has beaten UNC the past four seasons, including a 35-30 triumph in Chapel Hill last fall in Mack Brown’s swansong with the Tar Heels. NC State came up on the short end against East Carolina in the December Military Bowl, however. The opener against the Pirates, which will be played at night, could be a highly charged atmosphere.
Wake Forest Football Won’t Leave Home Until October
The Demon Deacons have been tough at home in recent years, winning nearly two-thirds of their games since 2019 (24-13).
New coach Jake Dickert will get plenty familiar with Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium during the first month of the season. Wake will play its first four games on home turf, facing Kennesaw State, Western Carolina, NC State and Georgia Tech, with an open date squeezed in.
Then, the Deacs get to start racking up frequent flier miles. There will be four road trips — to Oregon State, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Virginia — with a home game against ACC runner-up SMU squeezed in the middle.
Wake comes home for the North Carolina game (Nov. 15) and a non-conference date with Delaware (Nov. 22) before closing at Duke. Can Dickert get the Demon Deacons over the four-win plateau the program has been stuck at the past two seasons? Playing one FCS foe and two others who just moved up to FBS from the FCS level would suggest that is a distinct possibility.
Can An Old North State Team Make ACC Title Game?
The ACC championship match-up is set for Saturday, Dec. 6 at Bank of America in Charlotte. The last team from our state to play in the title game was UNC, which lost to Clemson in the 2022 championship contest. NC State has never played in the title tilt. There will be no divisions again this season, so the top two teams in the standings will qualify for the ACC finale.
The ACC”s Complete 2025 Logo Schedule | Football
Read The ACC’s Full Release On Its 2025 Football Schedule Reveal
Composite 2025 ACC Football Schedule
Saturday, Aug. 23
Stanford at Hawai’i………………………………………………….
Thursday, Aug. 28
East Carolina at NC State………………………………………….
Friday, Aug. 29
Kennesaw State at Wake Forest………………………………..
Saturday, Aug. 30
Aflac Kickoff Game – Atlanta, Ga.
Syracuse vs. Tennessee ……………………………………………
LSU at Clemson……………………………………………………….
Alabama at Florida State ………………………………………….
Georgia Tech at Colorado…………………………………………
California at Oregon State………………………………………..
Coastal Carolina at Virginia ………………………………………
Fordham at Boston College………………………………………
Elon at Duke …………………………………………………………..
Eastern Kentucky at Louisville…………………………………..
Duquesne at Pitt……………………………………………………..
East Texas A&M at SMU…………………………………………..
Sunday, Aug. 31
Aflac Kickoff Game – Atlanta, Ga.
Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina ………………………………..
Notre Dame at Miami……………………..7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Monday, Sept. 1
TCU at North Carolina ………………….. 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Open: Stanford
Saturday, Sept. 6
Virginia at NC State (Non-Conference Game) ……………..
Boston College at Michigan State ……………………………..
Baylor at SMU…………………………………………………………
Stanford at BYU………………………………………………………
Vanderbilt at Virginia Tech……………………………………….
Illinois at Duke………………………………………………………..
UConn at Syracuse ………………………………………………….
Troy at Clemson ……………………………………………………..
North Carolina at Charlotte………………………………………
James Madison at Louisville……………………………………..
Central Michigan at Pitt……………………………………………
Texas Southern at California …………………………………….
East Texas A&M at Florida State ……………………………….
Gardner-Webb at Georgia Tech ………………………………..
Bethune-Cookman at Miami …………………………………….
Western Carolina at Wake Forest ……………………………..
Thursday, Sept. 11
NC State at Wake Forest *………………………………………..
Friday, Sept. 12
Colgate at Syracuse …………………………………………………
Saturday, Sept. 13
Boston College at Stanford *…………………………………….
Clemson at Georgia Tech *……………………………………….
Pitt at West Virginia…………………………………………………
Minnesota at California……………………………………………
Duke at Tulane ……………………………………………………….
South Florida at Miami…………………………………………….
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech…………………………………..
Richmond at North Carolina……………………………………..
SMU at Missouri State……………………………………………..
William & Mary at Virginia ……………………………………….
Open: Florida State, Louisville
Saturday, Sept. 20
Syracuse at Clemson *……………………………………………..
NC State at Duke * ………………………………………………….
Stanford at Virginia *……………………………………………….
Florida at Miami ……………………………………………………..
SMU at TCU ……………………………………………………………
North Carolina at UCF ……………………………………………..
California at San Diego State…………………………………….
Kent State at Florida State………………………………………..
Temple at Georgia Tech …………………………………………..
Bowling Green at Louisville ………………………………………
Wofford at Virginia Tech ………………………………………….
Open: Boston College, Pitt, Wake Forest
Friday, Sept. 26
Florida State at Virginia * …………………………………………
Saturday, Sept. 27
California at Boston College * …………………………………..
Duke at Syracuse * ………………………………………………….
Georgia Tech at Wake Forest *………………………………….
Louisville at Pitt * ……………………………………………………
Virginia Tech at NC State………………………………………….
San Jose State at Stanford………………………………………..
Open: Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, SMU
Saturday, Oct. 4
Boston College at Pitt * ……………………………………………
Duke at California *…………………………………………………
Clemson at North Carolina * …………………………………….
Miami at Florida State * …………………………………………..
Virginia at Louisville *………………………………………………
Syracuse at SMU *…………………………………………………..
Wake Forest at Virginia Tech *………………………………….
Campbell at NC State……………………………………………….
Open: Georgia Tech, Stanford
Saturday, Oct. 11
Clemson at Boston College *…………………………………….
Pitt at Florida State *……………………………………………….
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech *…………………………………
Stanford at SMU *…………………………………………………..
NC State at Notre Dame…………………………………………..
Wake Forest at Oregon State ……………………………………
Open: California, Duke, Louisville, Miami,
North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia
Thursday, Oct. 16 OR Friday, Oct. 17
North Carolina at California *……………………………………
Friday, Oct. 17
Louisville at Miami *………………………………………………..
Saturday, Oct. 18
SMU at Clemson *…………………………………………………..
Georgia Tech at Duke * ……………………………………………
Florida State at Stanford * ……………………………………….
Pitt at Syracuse *…………………………………………………….
Washington State at Virginia…………………………………….
UConn at Boston College………………………………………….
Open: NC State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Thursday, Oct. 23 OR Friday, Oct. 24
California at Virginia Tech *………………………………………
Saturday, Oct. 25
Boston College at Louisville *……………………………………
Syracuse at Georgia Tech * ………………………………………
Stanford at Miami *…………………………………………………
Virginia at North Carolina *………………………………………
NC State at Pitt * …………………………………………………….
SMU at Wake Forest *……………………………………………..
Open: Clemson, Duke, Florida State
Friday, Oct. 31
North Carolina at Syracuse *…………………………………….
Saturday, Nov. 1
Virginia at California * ……………………………………………..
Duke at Clemson *…………………………………………………..
Wake Forest at Florida State * ………………………………….
Georgia Tech at NC State *……………………………………….
Louisville at Virginia Tech * ………………………………………
Miami at SMU *………………………………………………………
Pitt at Stanford * …………………………………………………….
Notre Dame at Boston College………………………………….
Saturday, Nov. 8
SMU at Boston College *………………………………………….
California at Louisville * …………………………………………..
Florida State at Clemson * ……………………………………….
Syracuse at Miami * ………………………………………………..
Stanford at North Carolina * …………………………………….
Wake Forest at Virginia * …………………………………………
Duke at UConn ……………………………………………………….
Open: Georgia Tech, NC State, Pitt, Virginia Tech
Friday, Nov. 14
Clemson at Louisville *…………………………………………….
Saturday, Nov. 15
Georgia Tech at Boston College * ……………………………..
Virginia at Duke * ……………………………………………………
Virginia Tech at Florida State *………………………………….
NC State at Miami * ………………………………………………..
North Carolina at Wake Forest *……………………………….
Notre Dame at Pitt ………………………………………………….
Open: California, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse
Friday, Nov. 21
Florida State at NC State * ……………………………………….
Saturday, Nov. 22
California at Stanford * ……………………………………………
Duke at North Carolina *………………………………………….
Pitt at Georgia Tech *………………………………………………
Louisville at SMU * ………………………………………………….
Miami at Virginia Tech *…………………………………………..
Syracuse at Notre Dame…………………………………………..
Furman at Clemson …………………………………………………
Delaware at Wake Forest…………………………………………
Open: Boston College, Virginia
Friday, Nov. 28
Georgia at Georgia Tech (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) …….
Saturday, Nov. 29
Boston College at Syracuse * ……………………………………
SMU at California *………………………………………………….
Wake Forest at Duke * …………………………………………….
Miami at Pitt *………………………………………………………..
North Carolina at NC State * …………………………………….
Virginia Tech at Virginia *…………………………………………
Clemson at South Carolina ……………………………………….
Florida State at Florida …………………………………………….
Kentucky at Louisville………………………………………………
Notre Dame at Stanford…………………………………………..
Saturday, Dec. 6
Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte, North Carolina
2025 ACC Football Championship Game…………………….
- *Denotes ACC game. Games remain subject to change.
