The first weekend of ACC football games are set, including Bill Belichick’s UNC debut
College football’s first full weekend of games will culminate with a spotlight on North Carolina and its new head coach.
Bill Belichick’s debut as UNC Tar Heels football coach will come against TCU on Labor Day, Sept. 1, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN, the ACC announced Thursday.
The Tar Heels hired the 72-year-old Belichick, who won six Super Bowls as New England Patriots head coach, in December after firing Mack Brown.
UNC went 6-7 overall, with a 3-5 ACC record while TCU was 9-4 with a 6-3 Big 12 record last season. On Friday, when the ACC announced each when each team’s first league game would be, it was revealed that UNC’s first ACC game will be Oct. 4 against Clemson at Kenan Stadium.
Also on Thursday, in the start of the ACC’s planned rollout of next season’s football schedules, the league announced N.C. State’s season-opening game with East Carolina be on Aug. 28, a Thursday night, at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Those two rivals ended last season with a memorable meeting in the Military Bowl, a 26-21 Pirates win marred by a post-game brawl on the field in Annapolis, Maryland. That completed a 6-7 season for the Wolfpack, who were 3-5 in the ACC. East Carolina, after firing head coach Mike Houston during the season, was 8-5 with a 5-3 record in the American Athletic Conference.
N.C. State’s first ACC game will be on a Thursday night, Sept. 11, at Wake Forest.
Duke’s season-opening game against Elon is slated for Aug. 30, a Saturday, at Wallace Wade Stadium. The Blue Devils went 9-4 overall, 5-3, in ACC, in Manny Diaz’s first season as head coach last season. Duke’s first ACC game next season will be Sept. 20 at home against N.C. State.
Wake Forest, coming off a 4-8 season where it finished 2-6 in the ACC under former head coach Dave Clawson, opens its first season under new head coach Jake Dickert at home against Kennesaw State on Aug. 29, a Friday night.
The rest of that weekend’s games involving ACC teams has three Aug. 30 games against SEC teams: Syracuse against Tennessee at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, LSU at Clemson and Alabama at Florida State. Also on Aug. 30, Georgia Tech plays at Colorado, California plays at Oregon State, Virginia plays host to Coastal Carolina, Fordham plays at Boston College, Eastern Kentucky at Louisville, Duquesne at Pitt and East Texas A&M at SMU.
On Aug. 31, Miami will host Notre Dame while Virginia Tech plays South Carolina at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The ACC will announce the full schedules during an ACC Network show Monday from 8-10 p.m.
This story was originally published January 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM.