ACC members Virginia, NC State schedule non-conference football series (2024)

Virginia has added a conference foe to its docket of future non-conference football games.

On Wednesday morning, the Cavaliers announced they’ll play a non-league home-and-home series with fellow ACC member NC State. The Hoos and Wolfpack are slated to meet in Raleigh on Sept. 6, 2025 and they’ll square off again in Charlottesville on a to-be-determined date in 2026.

“Boo [Corrigan] and I talked,” UVa athletic director Carla Williams said from the ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island, Florida, “thought it would be great. It’s a great rivalry. We want to play ACC games whenever we can. I’ve got a lot of respect for him, for Coach [Dave Doeren] and their program, and it’s mutual.”

In those years, the two tilts between UVa and NC State will not count toward the conference standings.

There is precedent for league schools meeting in non-conference games, too. In 2019 and 2021, North Carolina and Wake Forest played against each other as non-ACC opponents and those bouts didn’t tally into the ACC standings.

With ACC expansion incorporating Cal, Stanford and SMU into the league beginning this coming fall, UVa and N.C. State weren’t due to play against each other on the ACC schedule until 2027.

That was too long for the Cavaliers and the Wolfpack to wait.

“The more we play each other the better,” Williams said, “whether it’s in conference or non-conference. ... We’ll do it again if we can, with others.”

Williams said both Cavaliers coach Tony Elliott and Doeren were on board as well.

“The coaches were like, ‘Yeah, great,’” Williams said. “Whenever we can play other ACC teams, it’s great. It’s great competition. It helps the conference, which is always really, really good. It helps the brand.”

The two schools have played 60 times in their history since 1904 and the last 50 contests have all come in ACC play.

When the conference divided into divisions for regular-season play from 2005 through 2022, UVa and NC State met only seven times.

This past September marked the most recent battle in a down-to-the-wire finish at Scott Stadium. The Wolfpack, with former Cavaliers quarterback Brennan Armstrong behind center, won 24-21, as Armstrong led a final drive that ended with a game-winning field goal for NC State as time expired.

On top of the two non-conference games officially added on Wednesday and the 2027 ACC date in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers and the Wolfpack are also scheduled to meet in ACC action in Raleigh in 2029.

Both of UVa’s 2025 and 2026 non-conference schedules are now set.

In addition to the games with N.C. State, the Cavaliers will host Coastal Carolina (Aug. 30), FCS William & Mary (Sept. 13) and Washington State (Sept. 27) in 2025. And the following year, they’ll host FCS Norfolk State (Sept. 12), Delaware (Sept. 26) and play at Notre Dame (Oct. 17).

On Wednesday, UVa announced home dates against FCS VMI for Nov. 23, 2030 and Nov. 20, 2032.

Earlier this week, The Daily Progress learned through a Freedom of Information Act request that the Hoos will open the 2028 season at Old Dominion in Norfolk.