College Football
ACC announces tough 2011 football schedule
Published: 2011-02-14 14:33:00
Updated: 2011-02-14 14:59:27
Feb 14, 2011
The 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference football schedule released today by Commissioner John Swofford is a challenging slate which sees conference teams playing four of the top six teams ranked in the final 2010 AP poll, 10 games against opponents that are projected by ESPN.com to be in the nation's preseason Top 25, and 23 games against teams which participated in 2010 postseason bowl games.
In all, the schedule is comprised of 97 games, including 48 regular-season conference matchups, over a span of 14 weeks and is capped off with the Seventh Annual Dr Pepper Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship Game, which returns to Charlotte, N.C. this year and will be played on Saturday, Dec. 3 in Bank of America Stadium.
ACC teams will face 48 nonconference opponents who had a combined winning percentage of 56 percent in 2010, including 35 games against FBS opponents who won 55 percent of their games last fall.
Twenty-three of the league's 48 nonconference games (48 percent) are against 20 teams that earned bowl berths in 2010. This includes four games with teams which finished ranked in the nation's Top Six (AP) in 2010 in defending national champion Auburn (Clemson), fourth-ranked Stanford (Duke), fifth-ranked Ohio State (Miami) and sixth-ranked Oklahoma (Florida State).
Including games against the nine ACC teams which earned bowl bids in 2010, no ACC team plays fewer than six opponents who went to bowl games last fall, with Clemson facing the most with 10 followed by Boston College, Miami and Wake Forest with nine each.
ACC teams will also play 14 games against 11 teams selected by ESPN.com in its early preseason Top 25 including matches with projected top-ranked Oklahoma, sixth-ranked Ohio State and seventh-ranked Stanford. Three members of the Conference--Boston College, Maryland and Wake Forest--will meet Notre Dame, projected to be 14th nationally, while ACC teams will also play 15th-ranked South Carolina (Clemson), 17th-ranked Auburn (Clemson), 18th-ranked Georgia (Georgia Tech) and 19th-ranked Florida (Florida State) .
Nonconference opponents who earned bowl bids this past season include defending National Champion Auburn, East Carolina (2 games with ACC schools), FIU, Florida, Georgia, Kansas State, Louisville, Middle Tennessee, Northwestern, Notre Dame (3 games with ACC schools), Ohio State,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Florida, Southern Miss, Stanford, Syracuse, Troy, UCF and West Virginia.
The ACC will again enjoy national exposure on Labor Day Monday, as Maryland hosts Miami at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium in a nationally televised prime time contest on ESPN. The game, which will have an 8 pm (ET) kickoff, will nationally showcase the ACC coaching debuts of the Conference's two new head coaches in Al Golden of Miami and Randy Edsall of Maryland.
In all, the ACC will play five games nationally-televised by ESPN on Thursday night beginning with NC State travelling to Cincinnati (Sept. 22), but also including Virginia at Miami (Oct. 27); Florida State at Boston College (Nov. 3); Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech (Nov. 10); and North Carolina at Virginia Tech (Nov. 17). Each of the ESPN Thursday night appearances are set for an 8 p.m. (ET) kickoff.
ACC teams will face the defending national champion for the third straight year and fourth of the last five when Clemson hosts Auburn on Saturday, Sept. 17, a weekend which promises to be a pivotal one in the national rankings with Miami hosting Ohio State, Florida State hosting Oklahoma, and Maryland hosting West Virginia.
Most Recent Comments
RE: ACC announces tough 2011 football schedule
Tough schedule? You've got to be kidding. Granted there are a few heavies on some schedules but in most cases they're offset with prep-school teams.
NCSU should be ashamed of themselves (again) and their fans should get their $$ back for season tickets. Liberty AND South Alabama? Were Peace and Meredith Colleges already booked up?
- Posted by skirby5
Every heavyweight plays at least two weak teams out of conference. Ever looked at Alabama's schedule? Florida? State's schedule (for once) is much weaker than usual. Last season, we played the toughest overall schedule. I'm glad to see us lighten the load a bit. We need to build on that 9-win season. Why burden ourselves with tough outs?
Once we've built a better program, then we can step it up a notch.
RE: ACC announces tough 2011 football schedule
SEC, Auburn really played atough non-conference schedule. Other than Clemson at home, their schedule was bull! Certainly wasn't deserving of a national championship schedule. Compares favorably with State's non-conference schedule for 2011 that everyone's complaining about.
Yeah but that's the SEC where conference strength more than makes up for a weak non-con in the eyes of the BCS and pollsters. I'd rather see UNC and State each play at least one marquee non-con game each year - a top 25 match up that provides some national exposure is a great recruiting tool - but like another poster said, large parts of these schedules are worked out years in advance, and playing weaker teams isn't just important to give your squad game-speed tune ups - they are typically huge pay-days for smaller schools that help fund their entire athletic pograms. The practice of loading up on cupcakes isn't likely to stop anytime soon unfortunately
RE: ACC announces tough 2011 football schedule
Tough schedule? You've got to be kidding. Granted there are a few heavies on some schedules but in most cases they're offset with prep-school teams.
NCSU should be ashamed of themselves (again) and their fans should get their $$ back for season tickets. Liberty AND South Alabama? Were Peace and Meredith Colleges already booked up?
RE: ACC announces tough 2011 football schedule
I agree that State's schedule is weak - as is Carolina's. The heels play ECU (6-7) Rutgers (4-8), James Madison 6-5 and Louisvile 6-5 in non-conference play. In acc play they DO NOT play Boston College, Maryland or Florida State. Looks as though Butch took a page from Roy's scheduling book at Kansas before doing his schedule.
- Posted by unbiasedaccfan
The bulk of UNC's non-conf schedule was set years ago. ECU, Rutgers, and UoL have all had decent teams within the last few years. The ACC schedules the ACC games. Although it is possible to get out of a game here or there.
UNC's schedule looks just about right to me. Like virtually every BCS school, they play one FCS opponent, and the one they are playing is a top-tier FCS team. ECU is a natural in-state rival, and Rutgers and Louisville are quite comparable to UNC. It's not like UNC is an Oklahoma or Alabama. Every opponent they play has a legitimate chance to win. Even Tennessee, which dropped the Heels in order to schedule another patsy at home, was precisely the kind of school UNC should be playing - a regional opponent where both schools are capable of winning.
Agreed. Definitely in the norm. And good name teams with an in-state neighbor who is decent. And hopefully 3 or 4 ranked ACC teams each year. Tenn would have given a little more sizzle but Louisville is a good match-up.
I would think the Pack could have gotten out of one of their three games, but that would have cost a little money and is difficult waiting until the year before to pick up a BCS team like UNC did with UoL.
RE: ACC announces tough 2011 football schedule
^ I don't think UT was ever on State's schedule. You may have them confused with Carolina.
Here's a reality about scheduling. If you are in a BCS conference and you load your non-conference schedule with cupcakes, you've got a pretty good chance to go to a bowl even with a mediocre team. If you have a good team, and win 10 or 11 games, folks may point out your weak schedule, but they still invite you to a big-time bowl. And next year, all they see is how many wins you had because fans' memories are very short. String a couple of those good seasons together, and you start attracting better players and get a chance to develop the kind of continuity the big boys do.
If State wins often and consistently, fans will come out to watch them play Little Sisters of the Poor, and if they lose often fans will stay away from games against better opponents. I don't criticize State for this year's schedule. They need it to solidify gains made last season, and help build the talent base back to where they can compete for the ACC championship in the future.
- Posted by Ken D.
Ken, Tennessee was on State's schedule several years ago. I think the first meeting was supposed to be 2006. Conference realignment changed that, though. There were at least two meetings scheduled. I remember because I was really looking forward to that and wondering how good State would be when we met.
Oh well, at least we still get to play them in 2012 in that season-opening game in Georgia.
State does have a weak schedule this year. But it's normally much more tough. Usually it's two creampuffs, and two reasonably difficult games (like SC, Cincinnati).
ANd keep in mind that when Cincinnati was scheduled, they were actually good. Two years ago they won their conference and earned a BCS bowl game. Seems like they won 12 games that year, too. They were weak when we played them last year, but that wasn't our fault. We didn't schedule them years in advance because we knew they would stink by the time we played them.
But I can't speak for us playing Liberty, South Alabama, and Central Michigan. Although, like someone said earlier, CM is not a guaranteed win anyway.
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