NC State football games with Georgia canceled as league schedules expand
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Georgia and N.C. State mutually canceled two future games amid SEC shift.
- SEC move to a nine-game schedule triggered several ACC nonconference cancellations.
- Georgia faced a $2M cancelation fee, but games were voided by mutual consent.
Georgia scrapped a pair of ACC nonconference home-and-home series, including one with N.C. State, to prepare for the SEC’s upcoming move to a nine-game league schedule, the school announced on Wednesday.
The Wolfpack and Bulldogs mutually agreed to cancel the series. UGA was set to host N.C. State in Athens, Georgia, on Sept. 17, 2033, before making a trip to Raleigh on Sept. 16, 2034.
N.C. State’s contract signed with Georgia in 2021 stipulated that the Bulldogs would owe $2 million for canceling the games “unless cancellation of the game is by mutual consent of the parties.”
The Bulldogs also mutually agreed to cancel games at Louisville for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
This is the second SEC school to cancel a game with N.C. State to accommodate the ninth SEC game. Florida and N.C. State agreed in 2024 to cancel their series, planned for 2026 and 2032. The Wolfpack replaced that game with its Virginia series, which was considered a nonconference game in 2025 and has been moved from Charlottesville to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for 2026.
The ACC is also moving to a nine-game conference schedule. The transition period begins next season with some teams playing nine games before fully implementing the change in 2027.
N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren has spoken repeatedly in support of a nine-game conference schedule. In August, prior to the ACC’s announcement of the change, Doeren said he supports “whatever ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips’ decides.”
Doeren said programs want to have some freedom to schedule games, whether due to rivalry games, how other matchups end up falling on the schedule, or recruiting ties.
“For me, nine games is great,” Doeren said. “I don’t have a problem with it, but I understand the argument of the teams that do have that other game. … But, we all saw the new parameters that came out from the College Football Playoff, and so I can understand why commissioners would look at [going to nine games] as something that needs to be done.”
Doeren referred to the annual ACC-SEC rivalry crossover that some teams have. Clemson plays South Carolina, Georgia Tech plays Georgia, Florida State plays Florida and Louisville plays Kentucky. So those four ACC schools always have a nonconference Power Four rival on the schedule. If a team has Notre Dame that year, as well, those are 10 games against major opponents.
Going to nine league games means some ACC teams would have 11 such games a season.
“In their case, there’s an argument not to do it,” Doeren said. “For us, we don’t have that SEC automatic game.”
The ACC announced the decision to move to nine games earlier this fall. It has 17 members in football, and it’s not possible for an odd number of teams to play an odd number of games, which was one of Phillips’ concerns this summer.
At the time of the decision, it was unclear if Notre Dame would be designated as an ACC game for teams in need of a ninth conference contest. Notre Dame, however, has since engaged in a public spat with the league after the league successfully politicked for Miami, an ACC member school in all sports, to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame, an ACC member for all league sports but football, was not selected.
Fighting Irish Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua said this week the ACC “did permanent damage” to its relationship with Notre Dame. For now, there are no changes to the ACC’s scheduling model with the Irish, which is set to play six ACC teams in 2026.
