CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The countdown is over—the 2025 college football season begins on Saturday, August 23, with the Atlantic Coast Conference front and center as Stanford meets Hawai’i under the lights at 7:30 p.m. ET in a primetime matchup from Honolulu.
 
Week 0 - ACC Football Schedule
 
Saturday, August 23 | 7:30 p.m. ET
Stanford at Hawaii
Series: Stanford leads, 4-0
Last meeting: Stanford, 37-24 (2023)
CBS: Rich Waltz (play-by-play), Logan Ryan (analyst), Tiffany Blackmon (sideline)
SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 84
SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 84
 
ACC Football Notes
 
From Ireland to Hawai’i

• Last season, Florida State and Georgia Tech kicked off the 2024 college football season at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Week 0 on August 24 in Dublin, Ireland.
• This year, the ACC kicks off the 2025 season with Stanford playing at Hawai’i in Week 0 on August 23.
• This will be the first time an ACC member (at the time of the game) will travel to Hawai’i for a college football game since Virginia played in the 2000 O’ahu Bowl. (Stats Perform)

 
ACC Owns Labor Day Once Again

• The ACC is the only league to compete across five days - Thursday through Monday - during Week 1 of the college football season.
• Week 1 includes seven games against P4 opponents and Notre Dame – no other conference has more.
• The ACC will once again anchor Labor Day Weekend on Monday night with North Carolina playing host to TCU, as Bill Belichick makes his collegiate coaching debut with the Tar Heels hosting TCU.
• It marks the 16th consecutive Labor Day game for the ACC (excluding the 2020 COVID season), and the 19th time since the tradition began with Florida State vs. Miami in 2005.

 
ACC Football Fridays

• ACC Football is set to dominate Fridays this fall, with a league-record 12 games scheduled for Fridays in 2025, the most of any conference.
• 12 of the ACC’s 17 football programs will participate in at least one primetime Friday night game.
• Georgia Tech’s season-opening contest at Colorado on August 29 is one of two ACC games set for the first Friday of play in the 2025 season.

 
Strongest Non-Conference Schedule

• ACC teams are scheduled to play 26 games against peer Power 4 Conference opponents and Notre Dame in 2025, the most of any conference by at least eight games – ACC – 26; SEC – 18; Big 12 – 14; Big Ten – 12.
• ACC teams are scheduled to play 15 non-conference games against opponents that were ranked in the 2025 Preseason AP Poll, five more than any other conference. Nine of those contests will come versus foes ranked in the top 10, also the most of any conference.
• ACC teams will play 35 non-conference games against opponents that appeared in a bowl game last year, including eight against teams that made the 12-team College Football Playoff.
• Based on team records from last season, the ACC is slated to play the toughest strength of schedule (.591) in non-conference play this season (considers FBS opponents only). (Stats Perform)

 
ACC is Again the Conference of Quarterbacks

• The ACC is the Conference of Quarterbacks, with the return of full-time starters Cade Klubnik at Clemson, Haynes King at Georgia Tech, Kevin Jennings at SMU, Eli Holstein at Pitt, Kyron Drones at Virginia Tech, CJ Bailey at NC State and Tommy Castellanos at Florida State.
• Five ACC quarterbacks were ranked in ESPN’s Top 15 QBs in College Football in 2025 – Cade Klubnik of Clemson, Carson Beck of Miami, Haynes King of Georgia Tech, Kevin Jennings of SMU and Darian Mensah of Duke.
• The ACC features nine of the top 30 quarterback transfers heading into the 2025 season and has seen a strong influx of talent at the position, including notable names like Carson Beck (Miami), Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (California), Darian Mensah (Duke), Miller Moss (Louisville), Steve Angeli and Rickie Collins (Syracuse), Dylan Lonergan (Boston College), Chandler Morris (Virginia), Gio Lopez (North Carolina), Devin Brown (California), Daniel Kaelin (Virginia), and Deshawn Purdie (Wake Forest).
• Since 2018, the ACC is the only conference to have had at least one QB drafted in the first round in six different drafts.

 
ACC is Loaded with Preeminent Players

• The ACC is stacked with preeminent players again heading into the 2025 season.
  • Five ACC players are ranked on ESPN’s list of 25 non-QB playmakers to watch.
  • ACC has 10 of the top 50 best players in college football (PFF College 50).
  • ACC has 1 of the 3 top returning players across six different positions (Pro Football Focus).
  • ACC has 3 of the top 10 teams in the 247Sports 2025 Transfer Football Team Rankings.
  • ACC has 22 of the top 100 transfers in the 247Sports 2025 College Football Transfer Portal Top Prospects.

 
ACC x NFL

• No conference blends college football and NFL experience quite like the ACC in 2025, with three former NFL head coaches now leading programs: Bill O’Brien (Boston College), Bill Belichick (North Carolina), and Frank Reich (Stanford), the most of any conference.
• Belichick (six Super Bowl wins) and Reich (one) are the only two college football head coaches who have also won a Super Bowl as either head coach or coordinator in the NFL.
• Several ACC programs also feature General Managers with deep NFL ties, including Ron Rivera (Cal), John Garrett (Duke), Michael Lombardi (North Carolina) and Andrew Luck (Stanford), along with a growing number of former NFL stars contributing across coaching staffs and player development roles.

 
2025 ACC Football Championship Game in Primetime Once Again

• The 2025 ACC Football Championship Game will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 6, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on ABC. The league’s football championship game will showcase the top two teams based on regular-season conference winning percentage.
• The 8 p.m. ET kickoff marks the 16th time in the last 17 years that the game will be held in primetime. Since its inception in 2005, a total of 14 different teams have competed in the championship game.
• Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, has hosted 14 of the last 15 ACC Football Championship Games. The ACC, Carolina Panthers, and the Charlotte Sports Foundation have an agreement to keep the championship game in Charlotte through the 2030 season.
• The winner of the conference championship game has advanced to the National Championship Game or competed in the College Football Playoff in nine of the last 12 seasons, including both of the two participating teams last year, with the ACC being one of only three multi-bid leagues.