2023 SCHEDULE – WEEK 2
THURSDAY, SEPT. 7 TIME, TV SIRIUSXM APP/WEB
Murray State at Louisville 7:30 p.m., ACCN 136 or 193 955
Series: Louisville leads series, 14-6; Last meeting: Louisville, 55-10 (2017)
ACCN: Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst), Sherree Burruss (sideline)
SATURDAY, SEPT. 9 TIME, TV SIRIUSXM APP/WEB
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest 11 a.m., ACCN 104 or 193 955
Series: Vanderbilt leads series, 10-7; Last meeting: Wake Forest, 45-25 (2022)
ACCN: Courtney Lyle (play-by-play), Hutson Mason (analyst), Lericia Harris (sideline)
No. 10 Notre Dame at NC State Noon, ABC 99, 129, or 194 129 or 956
Series: NC State leads series, 2-1; Last meeting: Notre Dame, 35-14 (2017)
ABC: Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Greg McElroy (analyst), Molly McGrath (sideline)
Purdue at Virginia Tech Noon, ESPN2 138 or 206 969
Series: Virginia Tech leads series, 1-0; Last meeting: Virginia Tech, 51-24 (2015)
ESPN2: Brian Custer (play-by-play), Rod Gilmore (analyst), Lauren Sisler (sideline)
James Madison at Virginia Noon, ESPNU 136 or 201 964
Series: Virginia leads series, 2-1; Last meeting: Virginia, 21-14 (1983)
ESPNU: Roy Philpott (play-by-play), Roddy Jones (analyst), Taylor McGregor (sideline)
Holy Cross at Boston College Noon, ACCNX 158 or 203 966
Series: Boston College leads series, 49-31-1; Last meeting: Boston College, 62-14 (2018)
ACCNX: Bill Spaulding (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst)
South Carolina State at Georgia Tech 1 p.m., ACCNX 111 or 204 967
Series: Georgia Tech leads series, 1-0; Last meeting: Georgia Tech, 41-10 (2010)
ACCNX: Chuckie Kempf (play-by-play), Forrest Conoly (analyst)
Charleston Southern at No. 25 Clemson 2:15 p.m., ACCN 104 or 193 955
Series: First meeting
ACCN: Drew Carter (play-by-play), Dustin Fox (analyst), Alex Chappell (sideline)
No. 23 Texas A&M at Miami 3:30 p.m., ABC 136 or 201 964
Series: Tied, 2-2; Last meeting: Texas A&M, 17-9 (2022)
ABC: Joe Tessitore (play-by-play), Jesse Palmer (analyst), Katie George (sideline)
Western Michigan at Syracuse 3:30 p.m., ACCNX 99 or 194 956
Series: Syracuse leads series, 2-0; Last meeting: Syracuse, 52-33 (2019)
ACCNX: Richard Cross (play-by-play), Byron Chamberlain (analyst)
Appalachian State at No. 17 North Carolina 5:15 p.m., ACCN 104 or 193 955
Series: North Carolina leads series, 2-1; Last meeting: North Carolina, 63-61 (2022)
ACCN: Wes Durham (play-by-play), Tim Hasselbeck (analyst), Taylor Tannebaum (sideline)
Lafayette at No. 21 Duke 6 p.m., ACCNX 382 972
Series: First meeting
ACCNX: Lowell Galindo (play-by-play), Charles Arbuckle (analyst)
Cincinnati at Pitt 6:30 p.m., CW 103 or 207 983
Series: Pitt leads series, 8-4; Last meeting: Cincinnati, 34-10 (2012)
CW: Tom Werme (play-by-play), James Bates (analyst), Treavor Scales
Southern Miss at No. 4 Florida State 8:30 p.m., ACCN 104 or 193 955
Series: Florida State leads 14-8-1; Last meeting: Florida State, 42-13 (2017)
ACCN: Jorge Sedano (play-by-play), Orlando Franklin (analyst), Marilyn Payne (sideline)
ACC NOTES
ACC WELCOMES CAL, SMU AND STANFORD
The ACC Board of Directors voted on Sept. 1 to formally admit the University of California, Berkeley (Cal), Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Stanford University to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Cal, SMU and Stanford will join the ACC as full members with full voting participation effective July 1, 2024 (SMU) and August 2, 2024 (Stanford and Cal). The decision followed the submission of letters of application from all three institutions.
The additions of Cal, SMU and Stanford enhance and strengthen the ACC academically, athletically and financially as well as create a true national conference that spans coast to coast. The incoming universities enrich the league’s competitiveness in all sports and further demonstrate the ACC’s commitment to broad-based programs for both women and men. More than 2,200 student-athletes from Cal, SMU and Stanford will join the nearly 10,000 current ACC student-athletes competing at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics.
GREATNESS IS WHAT WE DO
The ACC announced its new creative campaign, “ACCOMPLISH GREATNESS,” a multi-part brand campaign highlighting the vast success of the ACC’s athletics and academics alike. The campaign launched ahead of the ACC’s official college football season on Week 1. The series will continue with multi-sport spots highlighting the ACC’s incredible accomplishments in all sports throughout the academic year.
ESPN’S BEST LABOR DAY SUNDAY
ESPN’s Labor Day Showdown Between No. 5 LSU and No. 8 FSU registered 9.1 million viewers on ABC during the Seminoles win.
The game was the most-watched Labor Day Sunday game since Notre Dame and Texas in 2016 and the second-most watched on record, having peaked at 10.3 million viewers.
GRAND STAGE ON WEEK 1
Week 1 of the college football season last week saw five consecutive days of ACC Football, with ACC teams playing in 12 games over the five-day span throughout the Labor Day Weekend, Aug. 31-Sept. 4. No other league played across all five days in Week 1. The feat marked the fifth time in the last seven years that the ACC played over five consecutive days in Week 1.
HISTORICAL TOP-10 WINS
In Monday night’s Labor Day primetime game, the Duke Blue Devils upended No. 9 Clemson 28-7 in Wallace Wade Stadium in the two teams’ season opener. The win was the
first time the Blue Devils had beaten a top-10 team since defeating then-No. 7 Clemson in 1989, snapping a losing streak of 28 straight games to top-10 teams.
On Sunday night, the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles defeated No. 5 LSU 45-24 in the Camping World Kickoff in Orlando, Fla. FSU’s 45 points were tied for the most in a season opener against an AP top-5 teams in the Poll era (since 1936). As the lower-ranked team, the Seminoles also recorded the first 20+ point win over an AP top-5 team since 1988 with the season-opening victory
FOUR TEAMS RANKED NATIONALLY AFTER WEEK 1
Four ACC teams are ranked in the AP Top 25 poll (Sept. 5), as Duke jumped into the poll at No. 21 with its win over Clemson in the season opener. Florida State jumped four spots to No. 4 with the blowout win over then-No. 5 LSU, while North Carolina moved up to No. 17. Despite the loss, the Tigers remained in the top 25 at No. 25. Pitt, Miami, NC State and Louisville also received votes.
No. 5 Florida State leads a group of four ACC teams ranked in the top 25 of the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll (Sept. 5). The Seminoles are joined by North Carolina at No. 16, Clemson at No. 21, and Duke at No. 24. Pitt, Miami, NC State, Wake Forest and Louisville also received votes.
NATIONAL WEEKLY AWARD LIST RECOGNITION
Davey O’Brien Award: Jordan Travis threw for 342 yards with a career-high four touchdown passes in FSU’s 45-24 win over No. 5 LSU at the Camping World Kickoff game in Orlando, Florida. He tied his career high with five total touchdowns after adding a one-yard touchdown run, the 25th of his career.
Manning Award: Jordan Travis was also one of eight quarterbacks selected as the Manning Award Star of the Week for Week 1.
Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week: Kaimon Rucker recorded eight tackles (six solo), including 5.5 tackles-for-loss, and two quarterback sacks as North Carolina opened the 2023 season with a 31-17 victory over the Gamecocks in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. Rucker led a Tar Heel defense that tallied nine sacks and limited South Carolina to minus-2 yards rushing for the game.
PREVIEWING WEEK 2
After playing 12 games in five days and going 8-2 in non-conference action through the first week of the season, the ACC’s Week 2 schedule will feature 14 nonconference contests. Five ACC teams will host Power 5 opponents – Vanderbilt at Wake Forest (11 a.m./ACCN), Notre Dame at NC State (Noon/ABC), Purdue at Virginia
Tech (Noon/ESPN2), Texas A&M at Miami (3:30 p.m./ABC), and Cincinnati at Pitt (6:30 p.m./CW).
The action kicks off on Thursday night, as Louisville hosts in-state foe Murray State (7:30 p.m./ACCN), marking the home opener for the Cardinals and first-year head coach Jeff Brohm. Louisville is coming off a 39-34 come-from-behind win over Georgia Tech last week, overcoming a 15-point halftime deficit to earn the conference victory.
Wake Forest and Vanderbilt will meet for the second straight season, as the Demon Deacons will look to improve to 2-0 on the year on Saturday (11 a.m./ACCN),
while NC State opens up its home slate versus nationally-ranked Notre Dame (Noon/ABC).
Virginia and Boston College will look to bounce back from season-opening losses last week versus in-state foes, as the Cavaliers will host James Madison (Noon/ESPNU) and the Eagles take on Holy Cross (Noon/ACCNX).
Both Georgia Tech and Clemson will both look to secure their first win of the young season versus FCS opponents South Carolina State (1 p.m./ACCNX) and Charleston
Southern (2:15 p.m./ACCN). Syracuse will host Western Michigan (3:30 p.m./ACCNX), North Carolina takes on Appalachian State (5:15 p.m./ACCN), and Florida State
opens up at home versus Southern Miss (8:30 p.m. ET/ ACCN) with all three teams searching for a 2-0 start to the season.
Coming off one of the biggest wins in program history, the Duke Blue Devils will try to avoid a letdown with their first-ever meeting with Lafayette (6 p.m./ACCNX).
HOME SWEET HOME
All 14 ACC Football members will kickoff on their own home turf for Week 2 of the season.
Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina and Virginia will all host their home openers on Week 2 after playing in neutral site games to start the season last week.
Clemson and NC State will play their first games at home in the 2023 season following road contests to start the season on Week 1, while Boston College, Duke, Miami, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest will play at their respective home fields for the second consecutive week.
WEEK 1 RECAP
The ACC is off to a great start to the 2023 season, going 8-2 in non-conference play over Week 1. Last season, the ACC went a combined 10-2 against non-conference foes in Week 1, matching the previous high for most wins through the first week of the season in 2010, 2015 and 2016.
The ACC finished 2-1 over Power 5 opponents, including Florida State’s 45-24 win over LSU and North Carolina’s 31-17 victory over South Carolina. Both wins came on a neutral field and saw the two victors lead for most of the game.
The ACC finished 2-1 over Power 5 opponents, including Florida State’s 45-24 win over LSU and North Carolina’s 31-17 victory over South Carolina. Both wins came on a neutral field and saw the two victors lead for most of the game.
Syracuse (65), Florida State (45), and Pitt (45) were three of 26 teams nationally to score 45 points or more in week one, all securing wins.
MILESTONE WINS TO START THE SEASON
North Carolina head coach Mack Brown recorded his 100th career win as the head coach for the Tar Heels with the 31-17 win over South Carolina on Sept. 2.
With his 100th win at North Carolina, Brown etched his name in the college football record books as the only coach to have won 100 games or more at two different FBS schools. He totaled 158 wins at Texas in 16 seasons from 1998-2014.
Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson picked up his 150th career win as a collegiate head coach with the Demon Deacons’ 37-17 win over Elon on Aug. 31. The season-opening victory was Clawson’s 60th at Wake.
Louisville first-year head coach and alumnus Jeff Brohm recorded his first career win as the head coach of his alma mater with a 39-34 victory over Georgia Tech at the Aflac Kickoff Game on Sept. 1. The win also marked Brohm’s first conference win in the ACC.
THE CONFERENCE OF QUARTERBACKS
Eight of the 14 ACC teams returned a quarterback with at least 14 career FBS starts, led by Virginia Tech’s Grant Wells with 38 prior to the 2023 season. NC State’s
Brennan Armstrong started 30 games at Virginia before transferring and joining the Wolfpack. A Second-Team AllACC pick last season, Florida State’s Jordan Travis started 27 games coming into the 2023 season.
Name, School …………………………….. Career Starts
Grant Wells, Virginia Tech……………………………..35 Brennan Armstrong, NC State……………………….31 Jordan Travis, Florida State…………………………….28 Garrett Shrader, Syracuse ………………………………26 Tyler Van Dyke, Miami……………………………………19 Phil Jurkovec, Pitt ………………………………………19
Riley Leonard, Duke ………………………………………15
Drake Maye, North Carolina…………………………….15
*23 starts at Marshall before transferring to VT **30 starts at Virginia before transferring to NC State ***18 starts at Boston College before transferring to Pitt
ACC COACHING NOTES
Two new football coaches were hired in the ACC for the 2023 season: Georgia Tech’s Brent Key and Louisville’s Jeff Brohm. Key was hired after going 4-4 as the Yellow Jackets’ interim head coach in 2022. Brohm returned to his alma mater after a six-year stint at Purdue.
Among active head coaches, the ACC’s Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Mack Brown (North Carolina), Mike Norvell (Florida State) and Dave Doeren (NC State) rank among the top 30 in the nation in career winning percentage. Swinney’s .801 winning percentage ranks fourth in the nation. Brown is second among all active coaches with 275 victories.
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney owns 161 career wins, the 10th most among active coaches. Swinney joins Bobby Bowden (173) as the only head coach ever to lead an ACC program to 150 wins.
Two of the five active coaches to win a national title reside in the ACC. Dabo Swinney led Clemson to national titles in 2016 and 2018. North Carolina’s Mack Brown won a national title at Texas in 2005.
Four current league coaches have won ACC Coach of the Year honors – North Carolina’s Mack Brown (1996), Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (2015 & 2018), Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson (2021) and Duke’s Mike Elko (2022)
AROUND THE ACC
Boston College: Sophomore transfer QB Thomas Castellanos threw his first collegiate touchdown pass. He finished 13-for-28 for 138 yards and two touchdown passes and rushed nine times for 67 yards and a score. Castellanos joined Phil Jurkovec (2020) and Anthony Brown (2017) as the only BC quarterbacks since 1981 to pass for two
touchdowns in his first career game at BC.
Clemson: Clemson outgained Duke 422-374 and led the Blue Devils in first downs, 29-17, in the 28-7 loss at Wallace Wade Stadium. Clemson is now 142-9 under Dabo Swinney when outgaining its opponent. Running back Will Shipley rushed 17 times for 114 yards and caught a career-high-tying six passes for 29 yards with a touchdown.
Duke: Duke’s victory over No. 9 Clemson was the first for the Blue Devils against a nationally ranked opponent in a season-opener (1-13) in program history. It was also the first multi-touchdown victory over a top10 opponent since 1952, while the 21-point win was Duke’s largest over a ranked opponent since beating No. 9 Colgate 34-0 in 1942. Redshirt freshman Wesley Williams blocked two field goal attempts in the game to become the first Duke player to do that since Nov. 3, 2018, when Joe Giles-Harris blocked a kick against Miami.
Florida State: QB Jordan Travis passed for 342 yards with a career-high four touchdown passes. Travis tied his career high with five touchdowns responsible for after adding his 25th career rushing score. FSU has scored at least 35 points in seven straight games, the longest active streak in the nation, while the Seminoles’ seven-game winning streak is the longest active in the ACC and the fifth-longest active streak in the country.
Georgia Tech: All five of Georgia Tech’s touchdowns in the 39- 34 loss to Louisville in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benze Stadium were scored by players playing in their first game for the Yellow Jackets – Jr. RB Trey Cooley (2 – transfer from Louisville), r-Jr. TE Brett Seither (Georgia), r-Jr. WR Chase Lane (Texas A&M), and Fr. WR Eric Singleton, Jr.
Louisville: HC Jeff Brohm won in his coaching debut with his alma mater in a big way, recording the Cards fourth come-from-behind victory in 138 tries when trailing by 15 or more points at halftime. QB Jack Plummer finished 18-of-31 for 247 yards passing with three touchdowns and one interception. He is just the fifth Louisville quarterback to complete at least three touchdown passes in his starting debut, joining Johnny Unitas, Browning Nagle, Mike Watkins, and Dave Ragone.
Miami: The Hurricanes offense totaled 493 yards in their season-opening 38-3 win over Miami (OH) and did so with a balanced attack of 250 rushing yards and 243 passing yards, while Miami’s defense kept the RedHawks out of the end zone, with their only score coming on 48-yard field goal.
North Carolina: The Tar Heels sacked South Carolina’s quarterback nine times for 65 yards in the 31-17 season-opening win. Last season, the Tar Heels had 17 sacks in 14 games. The nine sacks were the most by the Tar Heels since they had 10 against Wake Forest in 2000. Six different Tar Heels recorded a sack while the Tar Heel defense made 16 tackles-for-losses and held the Gamecocks to -2 net rushing yards on 31 attempts.
NC State: QB Brennan Armstrong accounted for 251 total yards in his Pack debut – 155 Yards in the air and 96 on the ground – as five rushers totaled 211 yards and three rushing touchdowns in the 24-14 win over UConn. For the first time since playing Boston College in 2018, the Wolfpack were penalized only once in the contest.
Pitt: QB Phil Jurkovec threw for a touchdown and ran for another in his return to his hometown, as Pitt breezed past Wofford 45-7 in the season opener. Jurkovec completed 17 of 23 passes for 214 yards and ran for 41 yards and a TD. Pitt held Wofford to just 127 yards of total offense and didn’t allow the Terriers to cross midfield until the fourth quarter.
Syracuse: The Orange improved to 21-0 against FCS foes since the separation of major college football into two divisions in 1978 with a 65-0 win over Colgate. Syracuse set a school record for total offense with 677 yards, topping the previous standard of 675 yards against Rutgers in 1992. The 65 points were the most for the Orange since Nov. 28, 1998, when Syracuse tallied 66 against Miami.
Virginia: Punter Daniel Sparks, a preseason All-ACC selection, punted a career-high nine times for 398 yards, while linebacker Stevie Bracey led the Cavalier defense with a career-high 10 tackles, including seven solo stops in the season-opening loss to No. 12 Tennessee in Nashville.
Virginia Tech: QB Grant Wells threw three touchdown passes and rushed for a score to lead Virginia Tech to a 36-17 season-opening win over Old Dominion. Wells completed 17 of 29 passes for 251 yards to help the Hokies avenge a 20-17 upset loss to the Monarchs in last year’s season opener.
Wake Forest: QB Mitch Griffis went 19-of-30 for 329 yards with three touchdowns and only his second career start for the Demon Deacons. With two receptions in the game, Taylor Morin moved up the receptions chart in program history, as his 124 receptions rank 15th in school history, leaving him just 20 shy of the top 10.
