UVA’s opponents for next 7 years: early heavy dose of new ACC teams

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia football will get a heavy dose of the newest ACC schools over the next two seasons, according to scheduling for the next seven years released by the conference on Monday.

The Cavaliers will host SMU in 2024 and host Stanford in 2025, along with a road game at Cal, also in ‘25. None of the current 14 ACC members will play in California in consecutive seasons.

UVA will host Cal and will play at SMU in 2026, before hosting SMU in ‘27. Virginia goes to Stanford in 2028 and doesn’t face any of the three new schools in 2029, but will host Stanford in 2030 and travel to Cal that same season.

While the Cavaliers will have several games against the league’s newest members over the next seven seasons, the ACC was careful to preserve UVA’s main rivalries. Virginia will play both North Carolina and Virginia Tech every season. The UVA-UNC rivalry, which was played for the 128th time this season, is one of the oldest series in the nation and is “The South’s Oldest Rivalry.”

Even though the ACC has expanded to 17 teams beginning in 2024-25, it will not return to divisional play. It will keep the same format with the two top teams (based on winning percentage) playing in the league championship game in Charlotte. The number of conference games now jumps from 56 to 68. All 17 schools will play each other at least twice over the next seven seasons, one at home and once on the road.

Of course, this model depends on the ACC remaining stable with no additional expansion and no teams departing.

Here is Virginia’s league schedule for the next seven years:

2024
Home: Boston College; Louisville; North Carolina, SMU
Away: Clemson; Pitt; Virginia Tech; Wake Forest

2025
Home: Florida State; Stanford; Virginia Tech; Wake Forest
Away: Cal; Duke; Louisville; North Carolina

2026
Home: Cal; Duke; North Carolina; Syracuse
Away: Florida State; SMU; Virginia Tech; Wake Forest

2027
Home: NC State; Pitt; SMU; Virginia Tech
Away: Boston College; Georgia Tech; Miami; North Carolina

2028
Home: Clemson; Georgia Tech; Miami; North Carolina
Away: Duke; Stanford; Syracuse; Virginia Tech

2029
Home: Florida State; Syracuse; Virginia Tech; Wake Forest
Away: Clemson; Georgia Tech; NC State; North Carolina

2030
Home: Boston College; Miami; North Carolina; Stanford
Away: Cal; Florida State; Louisville; Virginia Tech