Clemson Athletics Football September 04, 2026 Week 1 Labor Day Weekend Previews: ACC Football Continues Five-Day Week 1 Showcase CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The ACC’s five-day showcase of college football continues with nine games across Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day Monday. The weekend slate features seven games on Saturday, September 5, followed by a neutral-site top-25 showdown on Sunday, September 6, and an ACC matchup on Monday night, September 7. Saturday’s action includes seven non-conference contests, highlighted by several tests against Power Four opponents as ACC teams look to build momentum during the first official weekend of the 2026 season. On Sunday, No. 24 Louisville will face No. 9 Ole Miss at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, in the lone matchup between ranked teams in Week 1. The weekend concludes Monday night when No. 19 SMU makes its first trip to Tallahassee to take on Florida State, extending the ACC’s Labor Day tradition and capping five consecutive days of ACC football. The ACC enters the weekend at 4-1 in non-conference play. Saturday, September 5 New Hampshire at Syracuse | Noon ET Series: First-ever meeting Last meeting: N/A TV: ESPN SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 177 / SiriusXM 234 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 958 Syracuse and New Hampshire will meet on the football field for the first time in the 2026 season opener for the Orange. Syracuse enters its third season under head coach Fran Brown, who guided the Orange to a 10-win campaign and a Holiday Bowl victory in his first season in 2024. The Orange finished 3-9 in 2025 but won three of their first four games before starting quarterback Steve Angeli suffered a season-ending Achilles injury during a 34-21 victory at Clemson. Angeli completed 98-of-156 passes for 1,317 yards, 10 touchdowns and only two interceptions through four games last season and was the nation’s leading passer at the time of his injury. Syracuse returns several young defensive standouts, including Antoine Deslauriers, Demetres Samuel Jr. and Chris Peal. Samuel and Deslauriers are entering their sophomore seasons after breakout freshman campaigns. New Hampshire will be playing its second game of the season after opening with a 28-14 loss in CAA action at UAlbany on Friday, August 28. The Wildcats, who have qualified for the FCS playoffs in each of the last two seasons and 17 times over the last 21 years, are in their first season under head coach Sean Goldrich, a former Wildcats quarterback who was named the program’s 21st head coach in December 2025. Running back Myles Thomason headlines the Wildcats’ returning offensive personnel. The preseason FCS All-America selection led New Hampshire with 736 rushing yards and 1,229 all-purpose yards in 2025. Thomason also recorded 30 receptions for 233 yards and averaged 12.9 yards on 18 punt returns last season. Saturday, September 5 Miami (OH) at Pitt | 12:30 p.m. ET Series: Pitt leads series, 2-0 Last meeting: Pitt, 35-26 (1949) TV: The CW SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 113 / SiriusXM 235 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 959 Pitt and Miami open their 2026 seasons with the first matchup between the programs since 1949. The Panthers are 2-0 versus Miami (Ohio) all-time, having won both meetings by a combined score of 96-26. Mason Heintschel returns as Pitt’s established starter after completing 201-of-316 passes for 2,354 yards and 16 touchdowns as a freshman. He also produced four 300-yard passing performances in eight starts and led the Panthers to six wins over their final eight games last season. Pitt linebacker Braylan Lovelace led the Panthers with 80 tackles in 2025, adding 5.5 tackles-for-loss and two interceptions. He headlines an experienced Pitt front seven that also returns defensive end Jimmy Scott, the Panthers’ 2025 leader among defensive linemen in sacks, and three-year starting defensive tackle Sean FitzSimmons. Miami is coming off a 7-7 season that included the program’s third consecutive appearance in the MAC Championship Game. The RedHawks have reached four conference title games since 2019. Miami was selected second in the 2026 MAC preseason coaches’ poll, receiving four first-place votes and four votes to win the conference championship. Redshirt freshman David McComb is expected to make his first collegiate start at quarterback for Miami. The Kansas transfer moved into the starting role after Thomas Gotkowski, who started Miami’s final three games in 2025, was ruled out for the season. Miami added reigning CAA Offensive Player of the Year Rodney Nelson to its backfield. Nelson rushed for 1,802 yards and 18 touchdowns at Monmouth in 2025, including three 200-yard performances. Saturday, September 5 Tulane at Duke | 3:30 p.m. ET Series: Series is tied, 3-3 Last meeting: Tulane, 34-27 (2025) TV: ACC Network SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 177 / SiriusXM 234 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 958 The season-opening matchup features two reigning conference champions. Duke captured the 2025 ACC Championship, while Tulane won the American Conference title last season. Tulane won last year’s meeting 34-27 in New Orleans despite Duke holding a 452-426 advantage in total offense. Duke finished 2025 on a four-game winning streak, defeating North Carolina and Wake Forest to close the regular season before topping No. 16 Virginia in overtime in the ACC Championship Game and Arizona State, 42-39, in the Sun Bowl. Duke sophomore running back Nate Sheppard returns after setting Blue Devil freshman records with 1,132 rushing yards, 200 attempts, 11 rushing touchdowns and three 100-yard games. San Jose State transfer Walker Eget has been named Duke’s starting quarterback. Eget has appeared in 27 career games with 18 starts, passing for 5,563 yards and 30 touchdowns. Duke returns two defenders who recorded at least 85 tackles last season in linebacker Luke Mergott and safety DaShawn Stone. Mergott sealed both the ACC Championship Game and Sun Bowl victories with fourth-quarter interceptions. Tulane begins a new era under head coach Will Hall, who served as the Green Wave’s passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach during the 2025 championship season. Hall previously directed Tulane’s offense in 2019 and 2020. Running back Jamauri McClure returns after rushing for 540 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 6.5 yards per carry in 2025. Tulane’s defense is led by safety Jack Tchienchou, who led the Green Wave with 83 tackles and added two interceptions, three pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery last season. Saturday, September 5 Boston College at Cincinnati | 3:30 p.m. ET Series: Series is tied, 4-4 Last meeting: Cincinnati, 38-6 (2019 Birmingham Bowl) TV: FOX SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 261 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 970 The 2026 season opener marks the first meeting between the programs since the 2019 season, when No. 21 Cincinnati earned a 38-6 victory over Boston College in the Birmingham Bowl. The all-time series is tied at 4-4, with the eight previous meetings dating back to 1961. BC won three consecutive games in the series from 1983-96 before Cincinnati captured the two most recent matchups in 1997 and 2019. Both teams enter Week 1 with significantly reshaped rosters. Cincinnati welcomed 46 newcomers, including 22 transfers, while BC added 26 transfers. Saturday marks Boston College’s first season opener on the road since 2024, when the Eagles defeated No. 10 Florida State, 28-13, in Tallahassee in Bill O’Brien’s debut as BC head coach. Mason McKenzie will make his Boston College debut at quarterback after transferring from Saginaw Valley State. The dual-threat signal-caller was the 2025 GLIAC Player of the Year, throwing for more than 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns while adding 942 rushing yards and 10 scores last season. Defensively, BC returns linebacker KP Price, a Second-Team All-ACC selection in 2025 after recording 94 tackles. Cincinnati enters year four under head coach Scott Satterfield after posting a 7-6 record and reaching the Liberty Bowl in 2025. The campaign marked the Bearcats’ first winning season since joining the Big 12 in 2023. Like Boston College, the Bearcats will also have a new quarterback following the departure of Brendan Sorsby, with Georgia Southern transfer JC French IV stepping into the position. French threw for 2,929 yards and 20 touchdowns last season while completing 63.8 percent of his passes. Cincinnati’s offensive line should be the strength of its offense, led by returning All-Big 12 performers Evan Tengesdahl, Joe Cotton and Taran Tyo. The Bearcats allowed just eight sacks in 2025, the fewest among Power Four teams, while also allowing a Power Four-low 43 tackles-for-loss. Saturday, September 5 Clemson at #11 LSU | 7:30 p.m. ET Series: LSU leads series, 4-1 Last meeting: LSU, 17-10 (2025) TV: ABC SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 80 / SiriusXM 82 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 80 / SiriusXM 82 Saturday will mark Clemson’s first-ever trip to LSU and Tiger Stadium. The programs played four postseason games at neutral sites before meeting on campus for the first time last season at Clemson. LSU leads the all-time series, 4-1, after earning a 17-10 victory at Clemson in the season opener last year. Clemson’s lone win in the series was a memorable 25-24 victory in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta. Clemson will open a season at an SEC venue for the first time since 2016, when the Tigers earned a 19-13 victory at Auburn en route to winning the national championship. Clemson returns a strong core of proven talent in 2026, bringing back eight starters – four on offense and four on defense – and 50 letterwinners from last season. The group is headlined by wide receiver T.J. Moore, who led the Tigers with 837 receiving yards on 52 catches in 2025; linebacker Sammy Brown, Clemson’s leading returning tackler after totaling 107 stops; and defensive end Will Heldt, who paced the Tigers with 15.5 tackles-for-loss and 7.5 sacks. The Tigers enter their 18th season under head coach Dabo Swinney, who has guided Clemson to two national championships, nine ACC titles and eight College Football Playoff appearances. Saturday’s matchup begins a new era for LSU, as Lane Kiffin makes his debut as the Tigers’ head coach. LSU enters the season ranked No. 11 in the AP Top 25 after finishing 7-6 in 2025. LSU added the nation’s top-rated transfer portal class during the offseason, highlighted by former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt, offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen. LSU has been particularly difficult to beat at home, posting a 30-5 record at Tiger Stadium since 2021, including a 24-4 mark in night games. The atmosphere will be among the biggest of Week 1, as ESPN’s College GameDay will originate from Baton Rouge. The show will celebrate its 500th road show as part of its 40th season. Saturday, September 5 VMI at Virginia Tech | 7:30 p.m. ET Series: Virginia Tech leads series, 49-25-5 Last meeting: Virginia Tech, 54-7 (1984) TV: ACC Network SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 113 / SiriusXM 235 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 959 Saturday marks the 80th all-time meeting between Virginia Tech and VMI and the first since 1984. The series dates to 1894, with Virginia Tech holding a 49-25-5 advantage. The longtime in-state rivalry was historically known as the “Military Classic of the South.” The programs met annually for much of the 20th century, with many of those matchups played on Thanksgiving Day in Roanoke. Virginia Tech won the most recent meeting, 54-7 in 1984. The Hokies have won six straight in the series dating back to 1980. Tech opens the 2026 season and the James Franklin era Saturday night at Lane Stadium versus in-state foe VMI. Penn State transfer Ethan Grunkemeyer will start at quarterback for Virginia Tech. He threw for 1,339 yards and eight touchdowns last season before following Franklin to Blacksburg. Virginia Tech returns leading rusher Marcellous Hawkins, who rushed for 749 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry in 2025, along with receiver Ayden Greene, who recorded 516 receiving yards. Defensive tackle Kemari Copeland headlines Virginia Tech’s returning defensive talent after earning Third-Team All-ACC honors in 2025, totaling 48 tackles and 4.5 sacks. VMI enters the matchup 0-1 after falling at Idaho State, 38-10, in Week 0. The Keydets rushed for 229 yards in the opener but were held to 11 passing yards. VMI is also under the direction of a first-year head coach in Ashley Ingram, who took over the program after going 17-6 in two seasons at Carson-Newman. Saturday, September 5 UCLA at California | 10:30 p.m. ET Series: UCLA leads series, 58-35-1 Last meeting: Cal, 33-7 (2023) TV: ESPN SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 177 / SiriusXM 234 / SiriusXM 269 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 958 / SiriusXM 978 California and UCLA renew one of the West Coast’s longest-running rivalries Saturday night at California Memorial Stadium. The matchup will be the 95th all-time meeting between the programs and their first since 2023. UCLA leads the all-time series 58-35-1. The matchup restores a series that was played every season from 1933 through 2023, before conference realignment interrupted the rivalry in 2024 and 2025. The schools actually met twice in each of the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons. The longtime conference rivals will meet as non-conference opponents for the first time, with Cal now in the ACC and UCLA in the Big Ten. The programs have agreed to continue the series annually from 2026-29, alternating between Berkeley and Pasadena. Cal won the most recent meeting, 33-7, at the Rose Bowl in 2023, snapping UCLA’s three-game winning streak in the series. The game marks the 2026 season opener for both programs and the beginning of the Tosh Lupoi era at Cal. Lupoi, a former Golden Bear defensive lineman and longtime college and NFL assistant, takes over the program. Cal’s offense is led by quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who returns after throwing for more than 3,400 yards as a true freshman in 2025. The Golden Bears bolstered their roster with a highly rated transfer class that includes former Washington running back Adam Mohammed, Rutgers wide receiver Ian Strong, Ohio wide receiver Chase Hendricks and Ole Miss cornerback Ricky Fletcher. UCLA also opens a new chapter under first-year head coach Bob Chesney, who led James Madison to the College Football Playoff last year. UCLA returns quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who enters his second season with the Bruins after throwing for 1,928 yards and 13 touchdowns and leading the team with 505 rushing yards in 2025. UCLA also returns defensive back Cole Martin, who totaled 65 tackles last season, while the Bruins added several potential impact transfers, including Oklahoma linebacker Sammy Omosigho and James Madison linebacker Trent Hendrick, the 2025 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year. Sunday, September 6 #24 Louisville vs. #9 Ole Miss | 7:30 p.m. ET Music City Kickoff (Nashville, Tennessee) Series: Ole Miss leads series, 1-0 Last meeting: Ole Miss, 43-24 (2021) TV: ABC SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 80 / SiriusXM 113 / SiriusXM 234 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 80 / SiriusXM 958 No. 24 Louisville and No. 9 Ole Miss will meet in the only Week 1 matchup featuring two teams ranked in the AP Top 25. It will be Louisville’s first ranked matchup since facing No. 16 Notre Dame in September 2024. Sunday’s game will be the inaugural Music City Kickoff and will air nationally in primetime at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The programs have met only once previously, with Ole Miss earning a 43-24 victory in the 2021 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. Both meetings have been neutral-site season openers. Louisville begins the season ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press preseason poll, marking the Cardinals’ first appearance in the preseason AP Top 25 since 2017. The Cardinals are 4-0 all-time at Nissan Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. Louisville is 2-2 against top-10 opponents under head coach Jeff Brohm, including a 24-21 victory at No. 2 Miami last season. The Cardinals have won at least nine games in each of Brohm’s first three seasons at his alma mater, compiling a 28-12 record. Louisville’s 28 victories since 2023 are the third-most among ACC teams. Louisville’s offense features junior running back Isaac Brown, a preseason All-ACC selection and Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List honoree. Brown rushed for 884 yards and seven touchdowns in nine games last season, averaging 8.8 yards per carry, before returning from injury to rush for 102 yards and two scores in the Cardinals’ bowl victory. Ole Miss begins Pete Golding’s first full season as head coach after he guided the Rebels through the 2025 College Football Playoff. Golding made his head-coaching debut with a first-round victory over No. 11 seed Tulane and followed with a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia before the Rebels fell to Miami in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal. After opening the season at No. 9, Ole Miss has appeared in the AP Top 10 in six consecutive seasons, its longest such streak since 1959-64. The Rebels return sixth-year quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and junior running back Kewan Lacy, both of whom were named to preseason watch lists for the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year awards. Monday, September 7 #19 SMU at Florida State | 7:30 p.m. ET Series: SMU leads series, 1-0 Last meeting: SMU, 42-16 (2024) TV: ESPN SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 81 / SiriusXM 84 SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 81 / SiriusXM 84 No. 19 SMU will make its first-ever trip to Tallahassee when the Mustangs and Florida State close out five straight days of ACC football on Labor Day Monday. The matchup marks the ACC’s 17th consecutive season with a Labor Day game, excluding 2020, and its 20th Labor Day appearance since 2005. The teams will meet for just the second time. SMU won the inaugural matchup, 42-16, in Dallas in 2024. SMU will open its 2026 season Monday night, while Florida State enters the ACC opener at 1-0 following a 34-17 Week 0 victory over New Mexico State. For the second consecutive season, SMU begins the year ranked in the top 20 of the Associated Press Poll, opening at No. 19. The Mustangs are No. 20 in the US LBM Coaches Poll. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings enters the season as one of the nation’s most accomplished returning signal-callers. He ranks second in program history with 7,709 career passing yards and fourth with 55 touchdown passes. Jennings owns a 14-2 record as a starter in ACC games and begins the season as the conference’s active leader in career passing yards, total offense, wins as a starter and winning percentage among quarterbacks with at least 15 starts. This summer, SMU launched its “K7NG OF DALLAS” campaign promoting Jennings’ candidacy to become the program’s first Heisman Trophy winner since Doak Walker in 1948. Jennings finished second in voting for ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Florida State produced 419 yards of total offense in its season-opening win, surpassing 200 yards both passing and rushing while finishing a perfect 6-for-6 in the red zone. FSU running back Ousmane Kromah rushed for a career-high 115 yards on 14 carries against New Mexico State, highlighted by a career-long 52-yard run. Seminole running back Samuel Singleton Jr. was named the ACC Offensive Receiver of the Week after totaling 164 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in the opener. Singleton posted career highs with four receptions and 54 receiving yards, added 42 rushing yards and contributed 68 kickoff-return yards. Making his Florida State debut, quarterback Ashton Daniels completed 17-of-27 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown while adding 30 rushing yards and another score. The Seminoles limited New Mexico State to 47 rushing yards, the fifth fewest allowed by a Mike Norvell-coached team. FSU also recorded three sacks and forced an interception.