CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference is set to make history once again this Saturday, September 28, as the SMU Mustangs host Florida State for the school’s first-ever ACC football at Gerald Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
This ACC first for the Mustangs comes one weekend after fellow new members Stanford and California played their first ACC games on the road in Week 4. Stanford was victorious on a late field goal at Syracuse on September 20, while Cal fell to the Seminoles in Tallahassee, Florida, on September 21, giving the Golden Bears their first loss of the season.
SMU, Cal and Stanford were admitted as ACC members on September 1, 2023. SMU officially joined the ACC on July 1, 2024, while Cal and Stanford became full-time members on August 2, 2024.
The SMU football program started in 1915. That year, SMU was a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, where the Mustangs played until 1917.
In 1918, SMU joined the Southwest Conference, competing in the league until 1995, winning 11 conference championships during that span before moving to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1996.
After nine years as a member of the WAC, the Mustangs were on the move once again, this time joining Conference USA from 2005-12, where they won two West Division titles under head coach June Jones in 2009 and 2010.
Following 11 seasons in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-23 and culminating with a perfect 8-0 conference record and an American Athletic Conference Championship in 2023, the Mustangs joined the ACC, where they are off to a 3-1 start to the season.
Heading into their first ACC game and first-ever meeting with Florida State, the Mustangs are 10-1 in their last 11 home games at Ford Stadium going back to 2022 and are 12-2 in their last 14 games.
The Seminoles will be playing their second straight game against a team in its ACC debut after defeating Cal last Saturday. Since Florida State joined the ACC for the 1992 season, there have been nine additions to the conference as full-time members, including the three this season, and the Seminoles have been the first ACC game for five of those with four coming on the road. The Seminoles are 3-1 in those matchups, with the fifth coming this Saturday at SMU.
The ACC Network will also be on site this weekend in Dallas, as
ACC PM, hosted by Mark Packer, will feature several guests along with former Clemson offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain, former Georgia and Miami coach Mark Richt and others, will broadcast on Friday afternoon. The
ACC Huddle, hosted by Taylor Tannebaum and joined by analysts Mac Lain, Richt, EJ Manuel and Eddie Royal, will air throughout the day on Saturday, providing in-depth analysis and coverage of all the ACC action on the weekend.
SMU has a chance to join Stanford and seven other full-time ACC members both current and former, as well as Notre Dame in 2020, in winning their first conference game as part of the ACC.
Duke, North Carolina and Maryland were all victorious in their first ACC games in 1953, the first season of the conference. Florida State won its first ACC game in 1992, while Miami and Virginia Tech won their first conference games as members of the ACC in 2004. Louisville also won its first conference game in its inaugural year in the ACC in 2014. Notre Dame, which played a full ACC schedule in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, also won its first ACC game that season.
In contrast, 10 teams, both former and current members including Cal, lost their first conference game as ACC members.
ACC Teams’ First Conference Game as an ACC Member
| Team |
Date |
ACC Opponent |
Result |
| Duke |
9/19/1953 |
at South Carolina |
W, 20-7 |
| South Carolina |
9/19/1953 |
Duke |
L, 7-20 |
| North Carolina |
9/26/1953 |
NC State |
W, 29-7 |
| NC State |
9/26/1953 |
at North Carolina |
L, 7-29 |
| Wake Forest |
9/26/1953 |
at #10 Duke |
L, 0-19 |
| Maryland |
10/3/1953 |
at Clemson |
W, 20-0 |
| Clemson |
10/3/1953 |
#3 Maryland |
L, 0-20 |
| Virginia |
11/13/1954 |
at South Carolina |
L, 0-27 |
| Georgia Tech |
10/1/1983 |
#5 North Carolina |
L, 21-38 |
| Florida State |
9/5/1992 |
Duke |
W, 48-21 |
| Miami |
9/10/2004 |
#4 Florida State |
W, 16-10 (OT) |
| Virginia Tech |
9/18/2004 |
Duke |
W, 41-17 |
| Boston College |
9/17/2005 |
#8 Florida State |
L, 17-28 |
| Pitt |
9/2/2013 |
#11 Florida State |
L, 13-41 |
| Syracuse |
10/5/2013 |
#4 Clemson |
L, 14-49 |
| Louisville |
9/1/2014 |
Miami |
W, 31-13 |
| Notre Dame * |
9/12/2020 |
Duke |
W, 27-13 |
| Stanford |
9/20/2024 |
at Syracuse |
W, 26-24 |
| Cal |
9/21/2024 |
at Florida State |
L, 9-14 |
* Notre Dame played a full ACC schedule for the 2020 season
Bold = Win
The ACC will have 13 teams in action in Week 5 with four conference games and five non-conference games, starting with Friday night’s ACC matchup between Virginia Tech and No. 7 Miami at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and culminating with Florida State at SMU on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
The 20th ACC Football Championship Game will kick off in primetime at 8 p.m. ET on ABC on Saturday, December 7, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tickets for the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship Game are on sale now at
Ticketmaster.com and through the ACC’s official website at
theACC.com.