BERKELEY – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its future football schedule model for the next seven years on Monday, featuring California's home and away conference opponents from 2024-30.
Cal will host four ACC opponents in 2024 – the Golden Bears' inaugural season in the conference – with Miami, North Carolina State, Stanford and Syracuse visiting California Memorial Stadium. Cal's first slate of ACC road games includes trips to Florida State, Pittsburgh, SMU and Wake Forest.
In addition to the conference schedule, the Bears have nonconference games against UC Davis (Aug. 31) and San Diego State (Sept. 14) at home flanking the Bears' first-ever trip to Auburn (Sept. 7). Cal has one open date on its 12-game slate.
The specific game dates for the 2024 ACC schedule will be announced on Jan. 31, 2024 (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) as part of ACC Network's ACC Huddle: 2024 Schedule Reveal.
Each ACC member institution will play eight conference games per season, with all 17 teams facing each other at least twice over the next seven campaigns – once at home and once on the road. The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete each year in the ACC Football Championship Game on the first Saturday in December at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Visit CalBears.com to place a 2024 Cal football season ticket deposit. Season ticket holders receive benefits such as season parking, the ability to transfer, exchange, sell and purchase additional tickets, and much more.
Fans can also check out the Cal Athletic Fund online to support the Cal football program via the Championship CALiber initiative.
Below are Cal's ACC opponents for the next seven seasons.
2024
Home: Miami, North Carolina State, Stanford, Syracuse
Road: Florida State, Pittsburgh, SMU, Wake Forest
2025
Home: Duke, North Carolina, SMU, Virginia
Road: Boston College, Louisville, Stanford, Virginia Tech
2026
Home: Clemson, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Road: North Carolina State, SMU, Syracuse, Virginia
2027
Home: Boston College, Florida State, Louisville, SMU
Road: Georgia Tech, Miami, Pittsburgh, Stanford
2028
Home: Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Stanford
Road: Florida State, Louisville, SMU, Wake Forest
2029
Home: Duke, Miami, SMU, Syracuse
Road: Boston College, Clemson, North Carolina, Stanford
2030
Home: Clemson, North Carolina, Stanford, Virginia
Road: Duke, Georgia Tech, SMU, Virginia Tech
BearoutEast67 said:
Awesome! Time to put up or shut up in terms of donating to Cal Bears Football! If this doesn't get your Blue and Gold blood pumping, nothing will.
The only thing that will get my blood pumping is when Knowlton and Wilcox are firedBearoutEast67 said:
Awesome! Time to put up or shut up in terms of donating to Cal Bears Football! If this doesn't get your Blue and Gold blood pumping, nothing will.
My folks (also alums, but too old to go to ball games at this point) are in Maryland. This allows me ample justification to roadtrip to both Pitt and Wake Forest -- y'know, to check in on themburritos said:
Home against Furd, Syracuse, NCSt, Miami
Away against Florida st, Pitt, SMU and Wake Forest.
Exciting!
The ACC has plenty of schools on the east coast to fill the 9 AM west coast time slot. They won't need Cal or Stanford to play that early. I suspect we will see 12-1 PM and 4-5 PM games. My thinking is that they won't want 7 PM games because it'll end well after midnight east coast time, so fans from those ACC schools won't be watching.SoFlaBear said:
Preface: We've had numerous complaints over the years about the late-night (7:00 PM Pacific ) starts that are used for late night programming on the East Coast, and I suspect that will continue to be an issue.
Question: However, now that there are many East Coast teams in our conference, has any thought been given to "Early Start" (9 AM Pacific) games that would be noon broadcasts on the East Coast?
On one hand - the students will hate it, the March to Victory will be at sunrise, and the Valley alums will be leaving at 6ish to get in and get parked. But the plus side - the game would be done by 1 PM, and then you could lunch and get home at a reasonable hour.
concordtom said:
How did we get stuck having an annual matchup with SMU?
Because none of the east coast schools wanted to play them as much (either). "Stick SMU with those California schools!"
Because ACC schools can have "protected rivalries" of two or three other schools who they can play every year. So UNC can play Duke and NC State every year, for example. To make Cal and Stanford's schedules work within the new ACC, they made SMU one of our "protected rivals" that we play every year.concordtom said:
How did we get stuck having an annual matchup with SMU?
Because none of the east coast schools wanted to play them as much (either). "Stick SMU with those California schools!"
concordtom said:
Think about the ridiculousness of that.
SMWho is a protected rival?
Who cares?!?!
This is the school that received the death penalty because they cheated so badly.
I don't want anything to do with them.
Culturally, what do we have in common?
Both were odd men out on football realignment, that's it.
It's just a logistical arrangement that doesn't say anything about the particular schools involved. Obviously Cal and Stanford will be each other's protected rivals, and each needed one more to help make the schedules work. SMU was the best candidate, as the other new kid on the block and also geographically the closest.concordtom said:
Think about the ridiculousness of that.
SMWho is a protected rival?
Who cares?!?!
This is the school that received the death penalty because they cheated so badly.
I don't want anything to do with them.
Culturally, what do we have in common?
Both were odd men out on football realignment, that's it.
concordtom said:
This is the school that received the death penalty because they cheated so badly.
Eastern Oregon Bear said:The ACC has plenty of schools on the east coast to fill the 9 AM west coast time slot. They won't need Cal or Stanford to play that early. I suspect we will see 12-1 PM and 4-5 PM games. My thinking is that they won't want 7 PM games because it'll end well after midnight east coast time, so fans from those ACC schools won't be watching.SoFlaBear said:
Preface: We've had numerous complaints over the years about the late-night (7:00 PM Pacific ) starts that are used for late night programming on the East Coast, and I suspect that will continue to be an issue.
Question: However, now that there are many East Coast teams in our conference, has any thought been given to "Early Start" (9 AM Pacific) games that would be noon broadcasts on the East Coast?
On one hand - the students will hate it, the March to Victory will be at sunrise, and the Valley alums will be leaving at 6ish to get in and get parked. But the plus side - the game would be done by 1 PM, and then you could lunch and get home at a reasonable hour.
As for us playing games on the road at 9 AM our time, I suspect the attitude of the other ACC schools will be "Tough. You knew we played early when you joined us."
concordtom said:
Think about the ridiculousness of that.
SMWho is a protected rival?
Who cares?!?!
This is the school that received the death penalty because they cheated so badly.
I don't want anything to do with them.
Culturally, what do we have in common?
Both were odd men out on football realignment, that's it.
golden sloth said:Eastern Oregon Bear said:The ACC has plenty of schools on the east coast to fill the 9 AM west coast time slot. They won't need Cal or Stanford to play that early. I suspect we will see 12-1 PM and 4-5 PM games. My thinking is that they won't want 7 PM games because it'll end well after midnight east coast time, so fans from those ACC schools won't be watching.SoFlaBear said:
Preface: We've had numerous complaints over the years about the late-night (7:00 PM Pacific ) starts that are used for late night programming on the East Coast, and I suspect that will continue to be an issue.
Question: However, now that there are many East Coast teams in our conference, has any thought been given to "Early Start" (9 AM Pacific) games that would be noon broadcasts on the East Coast?
On one hand - the students will hate it, the March to Victory will be at sunrise, and the Valley alums will be leaving at 6ish to get in and get parked. But the plus side - the game would be done by 1 PM, and then you could lunch and get home at a reasonable hour.
As for us playing games on the road at 9 AM our time, I suspect the attitude of the other ACC schools will be "Tough. You knew we played early when you joined us."
The college football networks seem to have 4 major viewing windows:
9:00
12:30
4:00
7:30
I'm assuming Cal's OOC home games are all going to get the late night slot. It will be interesting to see if the conference games kickoff at 10:30 est, but I somehow doubt it unless the contest is between Cal, Stanford and SMU. The counterpoint is that the schools' wishes dont matter and it's the networks calling the shots.
As for 9:00 am kickoffs for away games, I actually like it. That means the games will be over between 12 and 1 and I still have nearly a full Saturday to do with as i like.
There are bound to be at least a few game times that make one fan base or the other unhappy.calumnus said:golden sloth said:Eastern Oregon Bear said:The ACC has plenty of schools on the east coast to fill the 9 AM west coast time slot. They won't need Cal or Stanford to play that early. I suspect we will see 12-1 PM and 4-5 PM games. My thinking is that they won't want 7 PM games because it'll end well after midnight east coast time, so fans from those ACC schools won't be watching.SoFlaBear said:
Preface: We've had numerous complaints over the years about the late-night (7:00 PM Pacific ) starts that are used for late night programming on the East Coast, and I suspect that will continue to be an issue.
Question: However, now that there are many East Coast teams in our conference, has any thought been given to "Early Start" (9 AM Pacific) games that would be noon broadcasts on the East Coast?
On one hand - the students will hate it, the March to Victory will be at sunrise, and the Valley alums will be leaving at 6ish to get in and get parked. But the plus side - the game would be done by 1 PM, and then you could lunch and get home at a reasonable hour.
As for us playing games on the road at 9 AM our time, I suspect the attitude of the other ACC schools will be "Tough. You knew we played early when you joined us."
The college football networks seem to have 4 major viewing windows:
9:00
12:30
4:00
7:30
I'm assuming Cal's OOC home games are all going to get the late night slot. It will be interesting to see if the conference games kickoff at 10:30 est, but I somehow doubt it unless the contest is between Cal, Stanford and SMU. The counterpoint is that the schools' wishes dont matter and it's the networks calling the shots.
As for 9:00 am kickoffs for away games, I actually like it. That means the games will be over between 12 and 1 and I still have nearly a full Saturday to do with as i like.
I think ESPN would be foolish to have us play at 9 am (12 on the East Coast). They have plenty of East Coast-East Coast matchups to air at that prime time. Better to have us in one of the "less desirable" later games where they can pick up more West Coast viewers, most of whom are not drinking beer and watching football at 9 am.
BearSD said:There are bound to be at least a few game times that make one fan base or the other unhappy.calumnus said:golden sloth said:Eastern Oregon Bear said:The ACC has plenty of schools on the east coast to fill the 9 AM west coast time slot. They won't need Cal or Stanford to play that early. I suspect we will see 12-1 PM and 4-5 PM games. My thinking is that they won't want 7 PM games because it'll end well after midnight east coast time, so fans from those ACC schools won't be watching.SoFlaBear said:
Preface: We've had numerous complaints over the years about the late-night (7:00 PM Pacific ) starts that are used for late night programming on the East Coast, and I suspect that will continue to be an issue.
Question: However, now that there are many East Coast teams in our conference, has any thought been given to "Early Start" (9 AM Pacific) games that would be noon broadcasts on the East Coast?
On one hand - the students will hate it, the March to Victory will be at sunrise, and the Valley alums will be leaving at 6ish to get in and get parked. But the plus side - the game would be done by 1 PM, and then you could lunch and get home at a reasonable hour.
As for us playing games on the road at 9 AM our time, I suspect the attitude of the other ACC schools will be "Tough. You knew we played early when you joined us."
The college football networks seem to have 4 major viewing windows:
9:00
12:30
4:00
7:30
I'm assuming Cal's OOC home games are all going to get the late night slot. It will be interesting to see if the conference games kickoff at 10:30 est, but I somehow doubt it unless the contest is between Cal, Stanford and SMU. The counterpoint is that the schools' wishes dont matter and it's the networks calling the shots.
As for 9:00 am kickoffs for away games, I actually like it. That means the games will be over between 12 and 1 and I still have nearly a full Saturday to do with as i like.
I think ESPN would be foolish to have us play at 9 am (12 on the East Coast). They have plenty of East Coast-East Coast matchups to air at that prime time. Better to have us in one of the "less desirable" later games where they can pick up more West Coast viewers, most of whom are not drinking beer and watching football at 9 am.
Next year, during the conference season, there will be 8 ACC games for "the ESPN family of networks" in any given week, or 9 when Notre Dame is visiting an ACC team. Even if one ACC game is on Thursday or Friday night, that leaves 7 or 8 to be played on Saturday.
Sometimes an east coast team will play on the west coast at 10:30 pm Eastern time, and sometimes Cal or Stanford will play a road game at 9 am Pacific time. The most attractive Cal or Stanford home games (in the eyes of ESPN) will probably not be played in the east-coast-is-asleep time slot. But others will be.
My counterpoint is the fact that most of the times Cal has gone way back east, its been a 9:00 game. Maryland, Minnesota, Ole Miss, and North Carolina all ring a bell. Notre Dame was not, but they are unique with their NBC specific contract. The only possible exception is Ohio State where I simply can't remember when the kickoff was. But when Cal played second-tier teams (which is most of the ACC) the games were at 9:00.calumnus said:BearSD said:There are bound to be at least a few game times that make one fan base or the other unhappy.calumnus said:golden sloth said:Eastern Oregon Bear said:The ACC has plenty of schools on the east coast to fill the 9 AM west coast time slot. They won't need Cal or Stanford to play that early. I suspect we will see 12-1 PM and 4-5 PM games. My thinking is that they won't want 7 PM games because it'll end well after midnight east coast time, so fans from those ACC schools won't be watching.SoFlaBear said:
Preface: We've had numerous complaints over the years about the late-night (7:00 PM Pacific ) starts that are used for late night programming on the East Coast, and I suspect that will continue to be an issue.
Question: However, now that there are many East Coast teams in our conference, has any thought been given to "Early Start" (9 AM Pacific) games that would be noon broadcasts on the East Coast?
On one hand - the students will hate it, the March to Victory will be at sunrise, and the Valley alums will be leaving at 6ish to get in and get parked. But the plus side - the game would be done by 1 PM, and then you could lunch and get home at a reasonable hour.
As for us playing games on the road at 9 AM our time, I suspect the attitude of the other ACC schools will be "Tough. You knew we played early when you joined us."
The college football networks seem to have 4 major viewing windows:
9:00
12:30
4:00
7:30
I'm assuming Cal's OOC home games are all going to get the late night slot. It will be interesting to see if the conference games kickoff at 10:30 est, but I somehow doubt it unless the contest is between Cal, Stanford and SMU. The counterpoint is that the schools' wishes dont matter and it's the networks calling the shots.
As for 9:00 am kickoffs for away games, I actually like it. That means the games will be over between 12 and 1 and I still have nearly a full Saturday to do with as i like.
I think ESPN would be foolish to have us play at 9 am (12 on the East Coast). They have plenty of East Coast-East Coast matchups to air at that prime time. Better to have us in one of the "less desirable" later games where they can pick up more West Coast viewers, most of whom are not drinking beer and watching football at 9 am.
Next year, during the conference season, there will be 8 ACC games for "the ESPN family of networks" in any given week, or 9 when Notre Dame is visiting an ACC team. Even if one ACC game is on Thursday or Friday night, that leaves 7 or 8 to be played on Saturday.
Sometimes an east coast team will play on the west coast at 10:30 pm Eastern time, and sometimes Cal or Stanford will play a road game at 9 am Pacific time. The most attractive Cal or Stanford home games (in the eyes of ESPN) will probably not be played in the east-coast-is-asleep time slot. But others will be.
Understood, I'm just saying that, if you are ESPN and you are looking at which ACC games on the East Coast to move into a later time slot, a game involving Cal or Stanford would make sense, all other things being equal. Not because they want to do us a favor, but because they are in business to make money want a West Coast audience.
Sizewise, SMU is much more like Stanfurd. Both have under 8000 undergrad students compared to USC who has > 20,000. Plus, there are lots of USC grads in NorCal as well as those who will travel up from SoCal for a game.calumnus said:concordtom said:
Think about the ridiculousness of that.
SMWho is a protected rival?
Who cares?!?!
This is the school that received the death penalty because they cheated so badly.
I don't want anything to do with them.
Culturally, what do we have in common?
Both were odd men out on football realignment, that's it.
We, Stanford and SMU are the West of the Mississippi pod. It reduces travel. Think of them as a substitute for USC, a school you despise in one of our key recruiting areas and that we play every year.
HearstMining said:Sizewise, SMU is much more like Stanfurd. Both have under 8000 undergrad students compared to USC who has > 20,000. Plus, there are lots of USC grads in NorCal as well as those who will travel up from SoCal for a game.calumnus said:concordtom said:
Think about the ridiculousness of that.
SMWho is a protected rival?
Who cares?!?!
This is the school that received the death penalty because they cheated so badly.
I don't want anything to do with them.
Culturally, what do we have in common?
Both were odd men out on football realignment, that's it.
We, Stanford and SMU are the West of the Mississippi pod. It reduces travel. Think of them as a substitute for USC, a school you despise in one of our key recruiting areas and that we play every year.
I guess there was a pretty good visiting crowd from UT when they played at CMS years ago, but I wonder what kind of presence SMU will have. Texans being Texans (e.g. only peripherally connected to the USA - think they still can secede), will they be inclined to travel to a terrible place like Berkeley? They may be more inclined to show up for Stanfurd, where they can tell each other, "Hmmmph! I could have gone here, if I'd bothered to apply. Where is the nearest Dave and Busters?"
HearstMining said:Sizewise, SMU is much more like Stanfurd. Both have under 8000 undergrad students compared to USC who has > 20,000. Plus, there are lots of USC grads in NorCal as well as those who will travel up from SoCal for a game.calumnus said:concordtom said:
Think about the ridiculousness of that.
SMWho is a protected rival?
Who cares?!?!
This is the school that received the death penalty because they cheated so badly.
I don't want anything to do with them.
Culturally, what do we have in common?
Both were odd men out on football realignment, that's it.
We, Stanford and SMU are the West of the Mississippi pod. It reduces travel. Think of them as a substitute for USC, a school you despise in one of our key recruiting areas and that we play every year.
I guess there was a pretty good visiting crowd from UT when they played at CMS years ago, but I wonder what kind of presence SMU will have. Texans being Texans (e.g. only peripherally connected to the USA - think they still can secede), will they be inclined to travel to a terrible place like Berkeley? They may be more inclined to show up for Stanfurd, where they can tell each other, "Hmmmph! I could have gone here, if I'd bothered to apply. Where is the nearest Dave and Busters?"
I imagine the Big Game will be the one likely ACC After Dark obvious choice. My feeling is we will get a LOT of 4:30p start times in our future for conference games.BearSD said:
Sometimes an east coast team will play on the west coast at 10:30 pm Eastern time, and sometimes Cal or Stanford will play a road game at 9 am Pacific time. The most attractive Cal or Stanford home games (in the eyes of ESPN) will probably not be played in the east-coast-is-asleep time slot. But others will be.
NWBear90 said:I imagine the Big Game will be the one likely ACC After Dark obvious choice. My feeling is we will get a LOT of 4:30p start times in our future for conference games.BearSD said:
Sometimes an east coast team will play on the west coast at 10:30 pm Eastern time, and sometimes Cal or Stanford will play a road game at 9 am Pacific time. The most attractive Cal or Stanford home games (in the eyes of ESPN) will probably not be played in the east-coast-is-asleep time slot. But others will be.
Cal88 said:concordtom said:
How did we get stuck having an annual matchup with SMU?
Because none of the east coast schools wanted to play them as much (either). "Stick SMU with those California schools!"
Direct flight to Dallas, 3 1/2 hrs.
calumnus said:NWBear90 said:I imagine the Big Game will be the one likely ACC After Dark obvious choice. My feeling is we will get a LOT of 4:30p start times in our future for conference games.BearSD said:
Sometimes an east coast team will play on the west coast at 10:30 pm Eastern time, and sometimes Cal or Stanford will play a road game at 9 am Pacific time. The most attractive Cal or Stanford home games (in the eyes of ESPN) will probably not be played in the east-coast-is-asleep time slot. But others will be.
Agreed. Assuming we alternate home and away with Stanford, our home games will be ESPN's major West Coast game each week. The most likely candidate to be moved back for a national audience. 4:30 starts are not bad (3:00 is ideal).
I predict we finally get College Gameday in Berkeley next year.
I also think that if you are trying to decide which of the 7 ACC games on the East Coast to move to a later kickoff, choosing one involving Cal or Stanford makes sense, even if it Is just for the ACC Network.
golden sloth said:calumnus said:NWBear90 said:I imagine the Big Game will be the one likely ACC After Dark obvious choice. My feeling is we will get a LOT of 4:30p start times in our future for conference games.BearSD said:
Sometimes an east coast team will play on the west coast at 10:30 pm Eastern time, and sometimes Cal or Stanford will play a road game at 9 am Pacific time. The most attractive Cal or Stanford home games (in the eyes of ESPN) will probably not be played in the east-coast-is-asleep time slot. But others will be.
Agreed. Assuming we alternate home and away with Stanford, our home games will be ESPN's major West Coast game each week. The most likely candidate to be moved back for a national audience. 4:30 starts are not bad (3:00 is ideal).
I predict we finally get College Gameday in Berkeley next year.
I also think that if you are trying to decide which of the 7 ACC games on the East Coast to move to a later kickoff, choosing one involving Cal or Stanford makes sense, even if it Is just for the ACC Network.
Although I appreciate the optimism, I need to interject some reality.
Gameday is reserved for compelling matchups between good teams playing in the major conferences.
We are an average to bad team playing in a lesser conference against non-compelling opponents. We will not get gameday next year.
