As summer heats up, the first wave of kickoff times and TV info has dropped for the 2025 college football season — and there’s plenty for North Carolina fans to get excited about.
From primetime rivalry games to Thursday/Friday spotlight matchups, several of the state’s top FBS and FCS programs will be featured on ESPN platforms, the ACC Network and ABC throughout August, September and beyond.
Here is what we learned from the recent TV schedule releases:
🗓️ Opening Weekend & Labor Day Highlights
- Thurs, Aug. 28 – ECU at NC State
📺 7 p.m. | ACC Network
A rematch of the 2024 Military Bowl, now under the lights in Raleigh. - Thurs, Aug 28 – Elon at Duke
📺 7:30 p.m. | ACCNX
Blue Devils host one of the state’s top FCS teams for second year in a row - Fri, Aug. 29 – App State vs. Charlotte (Duke’s Mayo Classic)
📺 7 p.m. | ESPNU
Friday night fireworks from budding rivals at Bank of America Stadium. - Fri, Aug. 29 – Kennesaw State at Wake Forest
📺 7 p.m. | ACCNX
First game of the Jake Dickert coaching era in Winston-Salem - Sat, Aug. 30 – Gardner-Webb at Western Carolina
📺 6 p.m. | Streaming ESPN+
Rare night game in Cullowhee opens the season for both. - Mon, Sept. 1 – TCU at UNC
📺 8 p.m. | ESPN
A huge Labor Day Monday clash in Chapel Hill officially welcomes Bill Belichick to college football.
🔥 Early September Matchups of Note
The second full weekend of the regular season is FCS-at-FBS Saturday for most of our state’s FCS teams, otherwise known as “pay check Saturday”. Meanwhile, NCSU plays a rare non-conference tilt against a long-time conference rival.
- Sat, Sept. 6 – Virginia at NC State
📺 Noon | ESPN2
This game replaced the NCSU at App State game originally set for this weekend several years ago - Sat, Sept. 6 – Illinois at Duke
📺 Noon | ABC or ESPN
An intriguing match-up of upstart ACC, Big Team teams. Illinois won 10 games, Duke 9 in 2024. - Sat, Sept. 6 – Western Carolina at Wake Forest
📺 2 p.m. | ACCNX
Catamounts play an ACC team for second straight year - Sat, Sept. 6 – Gardner-Webb at Georgia Tech
📺 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
First of two clashes against FBS opponents for Runnin’ Bulldogs - Sat, Sept. 6– Campbell at ECU
📺 6 p.m. | ESPN+ - Sat, Sept. 6 – North Carolina Central at Old Dominion
📺 6 p.m. | ESPN+ - Sat, Sept. 6 – UNC at Charlotte
📺 7 p.m. | ESPN+
First-ever trip to Jerry Richardson Stadium for the Tar Heels. - Sat, Sept. 6 – NC A&T at UCF
📺 7 p.m. | ESPN+ - Sat, Sept. 13 – Duke at Tulane
📺 8 p.m. | ESPN2
New Blue Devils QB Darian Mensah faces his former team.
⚡ Thursday & Friday Games to Watch (Thru October)
North Carolina, NC State, East Carolina and Charlotte will hold down Thursdays and Fridays this fall.
- Thurs, Sept. 11 – NC State at Wake Forest
📺 7:30 p.m. | ESPN - Thurs, Sept. 18 – Rice at Charlotte
📺 Time TBA | ESPN Platform - Thurs, Sept. 25 – Army at East Carolina
📺 7:30 p.m. | ESPN - Fri, Oct. 3 – Charlotte at USF
📺 7 p.m. | ESPN2 - Thurs, Oct. 9 – East Carolina at Tulane
📺 7:30 or 8 p.m. | ESPN or ESPN2 - Thurs, Oct. 16 – Tulsa at East Carolina
📺 7:30 p.m. | ESPN - Fri, Oct. 17 – UNC at Cal
📺 10:30 p.m. | ESPN
After-dark action out west. - Fri, Oct. 24 – North Texas at Charlotte
📺 7 p.m. | ESPN2 - Fri, Oct. 31 – UNC at Syracuse
📺 7:30 p.m. | ESPN
𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 🏈
Networks and Times announced for Friday games of the 2025 ACC Football season. pic.twitter.com/NmcZgjY7Te — ACC Football (@ACCFootball) May 29, 2025
📅 November Games & Championship Friday
- Thurs, Nov. 6 – Georgia Southern at App State
📺 7:30 or 8 p.m. | ESPN/ESPN2
One of the Sun Belt’s fiercest rivalries gets the primetime treatment. - Fri, Nov. 21 – Florida State at NC State
📺 8 p.m. | ESPN
Thursday night games at Carter-Finley: one of the toughest environments in the ACC - Fri, Dec. 5 – Sun Belt Championship Game
📺 7 p.m. | ESPN
Prime-time coverage for App State’s conference. Can the Mountaineers make it back in? - Sat, Dec. 6 – ACC Championship Game
📺 8 p.m. | ABC
NC State has never been in this game. The last North Carolina team: the 2023 UNC Tar Heels.
🖱️ Want the Full Schedule? We’ve Got You Covered:
🔗 NC Football 2025 Full Master Schedule (All Levels)
🔗 View by Team: 2025 Schedules for All NC Programs
Whether you’re following FBS heavyweights or FCS underdogs, we’ve got every game, every kickoff and every team covered all season long.
