Syracuse, N.Y. — The ACC revealed its new 17-team scheduling model for 2024 through 2030 on Monday following the additions of SMU, Cal and Stanford earlier this fall with conference realignment.
Syracuse football will be one of eight schools to make a trip to the West Coast next season, as it’s slated to visit Cal. The Orange will host Stanford.
The new model remains division-less and increases conference matchups from 56 to 68 each year. Programs will play eight conference games each season and will play every other member of the conference at least twice — home and away — through seven seasons.
The model does not change how the ACC Championship Game participants are determined. As is the case this year, the teams with the top two in-conference win percentages will play for the title.
Only two programs — Georgia Tech and North Carolina — do not face one of the three new ACC members in their first year of membership.
The Orange will make three trips to the West Coast in the coming years (twice to play Cal, once to play Stanford) plus two trips to Texas to meet SMU.
It will host the three new members a total of five times.
No programs are slated to make trips to the West Coast in back-to-back years.
Syracuse will continue to play both Boston College and Pittsburgh annually.
It has a storied history with each program that continues in the next two weeks. Boston College plays at the JMA Wireless Dome on Friday, and Syracuse and Pitt play at Yankee Stadium in NYC on Nov. 11.
The matchups are two of 16 protected ones under the new scheduling model. Others include Virginia Tech-Virginia, North Carolina-Duke, Florida State-Clemson and Florida State-Miami.
New ACC members SMU, Stanford and Cal each have protected matchups against each other, likely due to their geographical distance from the rest of the conference.
Louisville and Georgia Tech are the only two programs to not have at least one protected matchup. North Carolina has the most with three against Virginia, Duke and N.C. State.
Besides its two annual opponents, Syracuse will meet Louisville the most times in the next seven years. The two programs play five times — every year from 2026-2030.
The Orange will also play Georgia Tech and SMU four times a piece through 2030.
On the ACC Network schedule release show, the stated conference goals when creating the new schedule were as follows:
- Protect the regionality of play regarding meaningful matchups
- Mitigate travel
- Protect premium television inventory
- Continue with no divisions and the top two teams by conference win percentage will meet in the annual ACC Championship Game
Syracuse University athletic director John Wildhack briefly joined the show as a member of the committee that helped organize the schedule.
“We had to pivot pretty quickly,” Wildhack said, referencing the conference having just changed to its 3-5-5 model this season. “...It’s like a game of Jenga. One move can trigger 72 other ramifications in a sense, so it’s really, really difficult.”
Here are Syracuse’s conference schedules for the next seven seasons. Game dates for the 2024 season will be announced at 9 p.m. Jan. 31.
2024
Home: Georgia Tech, Miami, Stanford, Virginia Tech
Away: Boston College, Cal, N.C. State, Pittsburgh
2025
Home: Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, Pitt
Away: Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU
2026
Home: Cal, Clemson, Louisville, SMU
Away: Boston College, North Carolina, Pitt, Virginia
2027
Home: Boston College, Florida State, N.C. State, Pitt
Away: Georgia Tech, Louisville, Stanford, Virginia Tech
2028
Home: Louisville, Miami, Virginia, Wake Forest
Away: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Pitt
2029
Home: Boston College, Pitt, SMU, Virginia Tech
Away: Cal, Florida State, Louisville, Virginia
2030
Home: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Stanford
Away: Boston College, Pitt, SMU, Wake Forest
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