By Andrew Jones
FOXSportsSouth.com
February 15, 2011
ACC football schedules for the 2011 season were released Monday afternoon, with conference members taking on national powers such as defending national champion Auburn, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Notre Dame and likely Heisman Trophy front-runner Andrew Luck and Stanford.
Clemson hosts Auburn on Sept. 3 in a rematch of what was the War Eagles' closest game last season until it defeated Oregon for the national championship. The Fighting Irish are on three ACC schedules. They have their annual battle with Boston College on Nov. 19, but also visit Wake Forest on Nov. 5 and play Maryland at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins, on Nov. 12.
But the most eye-opening slate belongs to Clemson, which hosts Auburn and Florida State and travels to Virginia Tech in a 15-day period beginning Sept. 17.
"I don't know how many teams nationally have these three straight games against FBS teams that won at least 10 games the previous year," Swinney said in a statement released by the school Monday. "All Clemson fans will be excited to have the defending national champions come to Death Valley. It was a thrilling overtime game at Auburn last year, and I know it will be a special environment at our place this year."
The ACC will not take part in the Chick-fil-A Kicoff Classic as it has for the past three seasons. But Maryland will host Miami in primetime on Labor Day. Only one ACC team (N.C. State at Cincinnati) will appear on Thursday night broadcasts until a string of four consecutive weeks begins with Virginia at Miami on Oct. 27 and closing with North Carolina's trip to Virginia Tech.
Overall, four of last season's top six teams from the final Associated Press poll will mark ACC slates, and 10 games are against teams that have already been ranked on some nationally respected early polls looking ahead at next season.
The most important weekend for the ACC, as it tries to rebuild its football image, falls on Sept. 17 when Auburn visits Clemson, Oklahoma is at FSU, Ohio State heads to Miami, West Virginia is at Maryland, and Kansas plays at Georgia Tech.
Five home games, four of which will carry national implications, and each provides the ACC teams an opportunity to exact revenge from losses a year ago that helped sour the league's image.
"Our schedule is very challenging as always, as we play two great nonconference opponents in Florida and Oklahoma," FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said. "It's also a very challenging conference schedule. We play seven bowl teams, so our work is going to be cut out for us."
In all, ACC teams will play 20 games against teams from BCS conferences, with only six slated as road trips. In addition, two ACC teams visit East Carolina, one is at Central Florida, and one hosts Southern Mississippi. Oddly, Virginia Tech plays road games at ECU and at Marshall, while Georgia Tech visits Middle Tennessee State, and Duke plays at Florida International.
Each of the ACC's 12 schools will play a team from the FCS, notably Virginia Tech hosting Appalachian State.
Miami and North Carolina leave their respected states just three times each, with UNC never going further than a state that sits on its border.
N.C. State will host South Alabama, which just played its first true season of football, taking on the likes of Edward Waters, Henderson State, Pikeville and Missouri S&T. This season, the Jaguars will face, in addition to their trip to Raleigh, West Alabama, Texas-San Antonio, and Henderson State again.
Andrew Jones is in his 15th season covering the ACC.
