CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Stanford and California will make history this weekend, as the two newest members of the Atlantic Coast Conference will kick off their first football games as members of the now 18-team league (17 teams in football) on Friday, August 30, and Saturday, August 31, respectively.
Cal and Stanford, along with SMU, joined the ACC after the ACC Board of Directors voted to formally admit the three schools on September 1, 2023. The Mustangs officially joined the ACC on July 1, 2024, while the Golden Bears and Cardinal joined the league as full-time members on August 2, 2024.
SMU played its first football game as a member of the ACC last week on Saturday, August 24, scoring a 29-24 come-from-behind road win over Nevada.
Stanford’s first game as an ACC member is set for a 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Friday against TCU from Stanford Stadium on ESPN.
The contest will start Stanford’s second season under head coach Troy Taylor. In his first season on The Farm in 2023, Stanford went 3-9 overall, including 2-7 in Pac-12 games.
The 2024 season marks the second time in the last five seasons that Stanford has opened the season at home. The Cardinal opened the 2022 season at home against Colgate with a 41-10 win. Stanford has won the last nine times it has opened a season at home, dating back to 2008.
Stanford had been a member of the Pac-12 for 106 years, joining the league in 1919 when it was called the Pacific Coast Conference (1919-58) and then remaining as part of the conference over four different name changes in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (1959-67), Pacific-8 Conference (1968-77), Pacific-10 Conference (1978-2010) and Pac-12 Conference (2011-23).
The Cardinal football team has won 15 conference championships, including sharing four conference titles during its time in the Pac-12. The Cardinal have the fourth-most Pac-12 titles, with the last one coming in 2015.
Overall, Stanford football has won two national championships, the first in 1926 under head coach Pop Warner and the second in 1940 under head coach Clark Shaughnessy, and has played in 30 bowl games, including 15 appearances in the Rose Bowl.
The Cardinal's inaugural ACC home slate features Virginia Tech on October 5, SMU on October 19, Wake Forest on October 26, and Louisville on November 16. The first conference game for the Cardinal will be at Syracuse on September 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
On Saturday, Cal will play its first football game as a member of the ACC when the Golden Bears host UC Davis at 5 p.m. ET at California Memorial Stadium on ACC Network Extra.
Cal will begin its eighth season under head coach Justin Wilcox and will look to build on last year’s 6-7 overall record, which ended with three straight conference wins and an appearance in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl versus Texas Tech.
However, while the Golden Bears return all six players who were honored on the 2023 All-Pac-12 teams a year ago, highlighted by 2024 preseason All-America running back Jaydn Ott and 2023 Freshman All-America selections in linebacker Cade Uluave and tight end Jack Endries, Cal also added 54 players to its roster since the end of the 2023 season including 28 transfers.
Cal’s first conference game in the ACC will be on the road at defending ACC Champion Florida State on September 21, before returning home for its ACC home opener versus Miami on Saturday, October 5.
The Golden Bears will also host fellow conference members NC State on October 19, Syracuse on November 16, and long-time in-state rival Stanford on November 23.
Like Stanford, Cal joined the ACC from the Pac-12, where the Golden Bears were a member since 1916. The Golden Bears were part of the conference for 109 years.
Cal has won a total of 14 conference championships in football, with the last one coming in 2006.
The Golden Bears have won five national championships in the program’s football history, winning four consecutive titles from 1920-23 and again in 1937, and have participated in 24 bowl games, highlighted by eight appearances in the Rose Bowl.
About the University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley, is consistently rated the world’s top public university. The flagship of the 10-campus University of California system, it was chartered in 1868 with a mission to excel in teaching, research and public service. Enrolling more than 42,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the campus has more than 1,500 full-time and 500 part-time faculty members in more than 130 academic departments that offer more than 350 degree programs. The faculty's outstanding research achievements and scholarship so far have led to 26 Nobel Prizes, and an additional 35 Nobel Prizes have been won by alumni. Cal Athletics is a broad-based NCAA Division I athletic department that sponsors 30 varsity sports and includes over 900 student-athletes. The department has approximately 300 staff members. Cal Athletics has produced 104 team national championships and 223 Olympic medals. Notable alums include Aaron Rodgers, Jason Kidd, Natalie Coughlin, Marshawn Lynch, Jaylen Brown, Layshia Clarendon and more.
About Stanford University
Founded in 1885, Stanford’s campus is home to seven schools, a distinguished faculty that includes 20 living Nobel laureates, and more than 7,800 undergraduates and 9,600 graduate students. Stanford’s Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation leads the nation with 136 NCAA team championships, has won the Women’s Capital One Cup four of the last seven years, and has achieved the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup for 27 of the 30 possible seasons. Nearly 900 Cardinal student-athletes compete as members of 36 intercollegiate athletics teams.
About the ACC
The Atlantic Coast Conference, in its 72nd year and 18 members strong, stands as one of the most competitive and revered intercollegiate conferences in the nation. ACC members including Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest are dedicated to upholding the league's founding values of academic excellence, athletic competition at the highest level, and integrity. The ACC supports 28 NCAA sports, with 15 for women and 13 for men, and its member institutions span 12 states. In August 2019, the ACC and ESPN partnered to launch ACC Network (ACCN), a 24/7 national network exclusively devoted to ACC sports and original programming. For more information, visit theACC.com and follow the ACC on Instagram (@accsports), Twitter (@theACC) and Facebook (facebook.com/theACC).