CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – College football is back, and the Atlantic Coast Conference is leading the charge. The league opens with five straight days of action on Thursday, August 28, as NC State hosts East Carolina and Duke welcomes Elon under the lights.
No other conference can match it — the ACC is the only league to play across all five days of Week 1, a feat it has now achieved six times since 2017.
The weekend builds to a Labor Day primetime showdown as North Carolina hosts TCU, marking the Tar Heels' debut of six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick.
Thursday, August 28 | 7 p.m. ET
East Carolina at NC State
Series: NC State leads, 19-14
Last meeting: East Carolina, 26-21 (2024)
TV: ACC Network
SiriusXM Radio/App:
SiriusXM 85
NC State and East Carolina renew their in-state rivalry on Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina, meeting for the 12th time in a season opener. The Wolfpack hold a 19-14 edge in the all-time series, but the Pirates claimed the most recent matchup with a 26-21 win in last year’s Go Bowling Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland. The two teams will once again battle for the “Victory Barrel” in this year’s opener.
NC State head coach Dave Doeren, the winningest coach in Wolfpack history with 87 victories, begins his 13th season leading the Wolfpack. Doeren’s tenure is the sixth-longest among active FBS head coaches. Under his leadership, NC State has been dominant at home in non-conference play, posting a 30-2 record in non-ACC games at Carter-Finley Stadium. One of those rare setbacks, however, came against ECU in 2013—Doeren’s first season in Raleigh.
The Wolfpack enter Thursday riding a seven-game winning streak in season openers, the longest active streak in the ACC. A win would tie the program’s longest such streak since World War II, matching runs from 1997-2004 and 1988-1998.
On the opposite sideline, Blake Harrell officially takes the reins at East Carolina after serving as interim head coach for the final six games of 2024, guiding the Pirates to a 5-1 record in that span. Since 1997, ECU has posted a 46-64 (.418) record in regular-season non-league games and will look to add another marquee non-conference win to its resume in the opener.
Thursday, August 28 | 7:30 p.m. ET
Elon at Duke
Series: Duke leads, 8-0-1
Last meeting: Duke, 26-3 (2024)
TV: ACC Network Extra
SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 160 / SiriusXM 193
SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 955
Duke opens the 2025 season at home against Elon for the second straight year, after defeating the Phoenix 26-3 in head coach Manny Diaz’s debut last fall. The Blue Devils are aiming for their fourth consecutive season-opening victory and enter the year having won eight of their last 11 openers.
The Blue Devils return 14 starters from last season (six on offense, five on defense, three on special teams), a figure that ranks tied for sixth nationally. Among the new faces is quarterback transfer Darian Mensah, who turned heads as a freshman at Tulane in 2024. Mensah’s 166.7 passer rating ranked sixth-best in the FBS (minimum 150 attempts) and put him in elite company—joining the likes of C.J. Stroud (Ohio State) and Caleb Williams (Oklahoma) as the only freshmen since 2021 to post a rating that high.
Elon enters its seventh season under head coach Tony Trisciani after finishing 6-6 in 2024 and was picked eighth in the CAA preseason poll. Despite last year’s loss in Durham, the Phoenix defense limited Duke to just 59 rushing yards, the program’s lowest total against a non-conference opponent since 2010.