ACC releases full schedule for 2020 football season, with Notre Dame joining unique setup

The ACC released its full football schedule on Thursday, with Notre Dame hosting Dukein Week 1 on Sept. 12 in a unique setup that will feature the Irish playing a league slate for the first time.

Last week, the league announced it would play a 10-game conference schedule with one nonconference game and that Notre Dame would be a part of it as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The release Thursday listed dates for all games and most of the nonconference opponents league teams will play.

Notre Dame will host Western Michigan in its lone nonconference game. That means the Irish will forgo their traditional matchup with Navy, which has been played annually since 1927. Notre Dame and Navy were initially scheduled to play in Dublin, but the game was moved to Annapolis, Maryland, in June.

Because the ACC is requiring all nonconference games to be played in the teams' respective home states, Notre Dame could not travel to make the game happen.

Clemson, hoping to make it back to the national championship game, opens at Wake Forest. Its game at Notre Dame remains Nov. 7. After a bye, Clemson closes with ACC rival Florida State,Pittand Virginia Tech to end the regular season.

The Tigers, unable to play their annual rivalry game against South Carolina because the SEC went with a 10-game league schedule, did not have a nonconference opponent listed, though that game is scheduled to be played Sept. 19.

The other three ACC teams with SEC rivals have their nonconference opponents set: Louisville will play Western Kentucky on Sept. 12, Florida State will play Samford on Sept. 19, and Georgia Tech will playUCFon Sept. 19. All three of those nonconference opponents were already on the 2020 schedule.

"I figured we were going to play, we just didn't know the who, when and where," Georgia Tech linebacker David Curry said. "All of us are very excited. We got the news when we were walking into the (locker) room this morning. We're excited to have Florida State for the first game. Now we know what team we're playing."

North Carolina also does not have a nonconference opponent yet, but that game is also listed to be played Sept. 19. Three of its previously scheduled nonconference opponents are out of the picture: Its game against Auburn was canceled, UConn canceled its 2020 season, and the Tar Heels' road game at UCF can't happen because of the league's home state mandate. That leaves previously scheduled James Madison or another team as possibilities.

Among the other notable schedule highlights:

• Miami will play the first game of the season, hosting UAB on Thursday, Sept. 10.
• Florida State plays at Miami on Sept. 26, the first time the rivals will play in September since 2009.
• Virginia and Virginia Tech play their rivalry game in Week 2, their earliest meeting since 1987.
• Three teams -- NC State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech -- host Libertyin nonconference games.
• The ACC championship game will be played either Dec. 12 or Dec. 19 in Charlotte.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.