With the ACC releasing the conference schedules for the 2025 football season, a hyper-analysis of each team and a forecast will surely follow in the fan base world. However, one thing that will come up repeatedly well into the season is the amazing fortune being bestowed upon Miami Hurricanes football.
The ACC made a broadcast out of unveiling the conference schedules Monday night. No one came away happier than Miami. The Hurricanes have the same 12 regular season games as anyone else. But eight of them, yes eight of them, will be at home. That is four of the eight conference games at home, plus all four out-of-conference games, (something that is entirely outside the control of the ACC).
Miami’s Road Is Not Long
So the ACC did what it does by making the Canes go on the road for half of their conference games. Fair enough. But with the devil being the details, a closer examination is pretty fortuitous for Miami.
With all four out-of-conference games being at the beginning of the season, (Notre Dame, Bethune Cookman, South Florida, and Florida), Miami does not leave the friendly confines of Hard Rock Stadium until October 4th. The first conference game for the Canes is an away game at Florida State.
So, they don’t have a road game until October. They don’t have a conference game until October. And then after that road game, they have an off week, followed by two more home games. They are not on the road again until the first week of November at SMU. The only other two road games are November 22nd at Virginia Tech, and November 29th at Pitt. If you follow that last thread, you have gotten to the point that even with its four road games, Miami will only leave the state of Florida three times the entire season.
Schedule Oddities
The ACC has only one team playing in Week 0 this year. Stanford is at Hawai’i on that opening weekend of 8/23. Everyone else starts Labor Day weekend.
Defending conference champion Clemson has an intriguing schedule in that two of its first four games are ACC contests. The Tigers are at home against LSU and Troy to open the season before going on the road for an ACC game at Georgia Tech. The following week they are back at home to play Syracuse. The scheduling accommodates Clemson’s last two games of the season being non-conference against Furman and South Carolina.
In its second year in the conference, Cal has figured out the travel logistics. Since it has no control over the conference home and away games, make the out-of-conference games as geographically viable as possible. The Bears have four non-conference games to start the season, but they are not going too far. They go up to Corvallis to play old Pac-12 foe Oregon State. That is followed by home games against Texas Southern and Minnesota. And then they have a short commute down to San Diego State to play the Aztecs.
The long-haul conference trips for the Bears include travel to Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Louisville. That is just three road games out of eight conference games.
Scheduling challenges and nuanced changes will be part of the topics of conversation when the ACC coaches and athletic directors meet in Charlotte in February.
Main Image: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
