By Micheal Germanese
The end of the 2024 season went nothing like the ACC hoped after going an embarrassing 2-11 in bowl games. Conference champion Clemson and runner-up SMU made the College Football Playoff. Both played noncompetitive games and lost their first-round matchups. Then there was Duke, which was embarrassed in the Gator Bowl 52-20 by Ole Miss, and Georgia Tech, which lost to Vanderbilt 35-27 in the Birmingham Bowl, just added to the disappointment.a
But now, with spring ball in full swing, the ACC can finally put the disappointment of 2024 behind them and focus on 2025. Teams like Clemson and SMU will be looking to get back to the CFP and prove they belong. Miami will be looking for its first playoff appearance in school history. Florida State, the most disappointing team in 2024, will look to prove last year’s disaster was just an outlier.
The ACC, SEC and Big Ten all face the same problem of trying to balance their schedules. Conference realignment, nonconference schedules and a lack of talent parity have made balancing the schedule impossible. While some teams play very few of the top teams in the conference others play everyone. The nonconference is no different with one team scheduling cupcakes while another plays top teams from other Power Four conferences.
As in life, scheduling is not fair, and it’s a lesson these ACC teams learned after being dealt the toughest schedules for the 2025 season. Home games are bold.
Syracuse Orange
Aug. 30 Tennessee (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)
Sept. 6 UConn
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Sept. 12 Colgate
Sep. 20 Clemson
Sept. 27 Duke
Oct. 4 SMU
Oct. 11 Bye
Oct. 18 Pitt
Oct. 25 Georgia Tech
Oct 31 North Carolina
Nov. 8 Miami
Nov. 15 Bye
Nov. 22 Notre Dame
Nov. 29 Boston College
Syracuse went 10-3 in 2024, but the 2025 season has the potential to look much different with arguably the toughest schedule in the ACC. According to ESPN’s strength of schedule ranking, the Orange come in at No. 14, and the next ACC team found on the list is Florida State at No. 30. Fran Brown is entering his second year and has his work cut out if he is going to duplicate the successes of last season.
Syracuse’s biggest obstacle is replacing staring QB Kyle McCord who finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy voting a year ago. McCord came over after starting for Ohio State in 2023, and with the Orange passed for 4,779 yards, 34 TDs and 12 Interceptions while completing 66 percent of his passes. McCord’s replacement looks to be LSU transfer Rickie Collins. Unlike McCord, Collins has seen very little playing time before transferring over. In 2024 with LSU, Collins only completed five passes for 35 yards.
Kyle McCord finishes 10th in the Heisman vote, highest finish for a Syracuse player since Dwight Freeney in 2001. pic.twitter.com/JDKtMzK90O
— Brent Axe (@BrentAxeMedia) December 14, 2024
Syracuse’s schedule will give Collins absolutely no time to become comfortable in the offense. That’s because three of the first six games are against Tennessee, Clemson and SMU. If playing those teams so early wasn’t bad enough, all three games are on the road.
Tennessee (Aug. 30) will kick off the year and will give an early indication of just how good the Orange will be. They then get Clemson on Sept. 20 and SMU on Oct. 4, with their first bye coming right after SMU. Following the break, Syracuse has three winnable games before finishing at Miami, a bye, at Notre Dame and finally home against Boston College.
Clemson Tigers
Aug. 30 LSU
Sept. 6 Troy
Sept. 13 Georgia Tech
Sept. 20 Syracuse
Sept. 27 Bye
Oct. 4 North Carolina
Oct. 11 Boston College
Oct. 18 SMU
Oct. 25 Bye
Nov. 1 Duke
Nov. 8 Florida State
Nov. 14 Louisville
Nov. 22 Furman
Nov. 29 South Carolina
Clemson went 10-4 a year ago, won the ACC and played in the CFP but ended up losing at Texas 38-24 in the first round. The 2025 season will be the 17th for Dabo Swinney. Clemson’s last national championship was back in 2018 causing the pressure to start winning to build. If Clemson is going to repeat as ACC champs and make the CFP they will do it with one of the tougher schedules in the conference.
Current 2025 Heisman Odds 🏆 pic.twitter.com/namkveG192
— Thumser (@JeffreyThumser) March 11, 2025
Despite the tough schedule, Clemson should hit the ground running with QB Cade Klubnik back for the 2025 season. In 2024 Klubnik passed for 3,694 yards, 36 TDs and only six interceptions, while completing 63.4 percent of his passes. Entering the 2025 season, according to FanDuel Klubnik at +1000, Klubnik has the third-best odds to win the Heisman. Garrett Nussmeier (+800) and Arch Manning (+800) have the best odds to win the award.
LSU comes to Clemson, S.C. week one, pitting two Heisman candidate QBs in an early season showdown. Clemson’s nonconference schedule also has South Carolina from the SEC, along with Furman and Troy. Clemson at South Carolina on Nov. 29 will have plenty of playoff implications for both teams.
In the ACC Clemson misses Miami, but gets SMU, Syracuse and Florida State. All three games will come at Memorial Stadium giving the Tigers a big advantage. Florida State comes in Nov. 8 and despite going 2-10 a year ago, the Seminoles should have a competent QB in 2025 making this a more difficult matchup than people might think. The Oct. 18 matchup with SMU looks to be the most important conference game on the schedule and will have both ACC and CFP ramifications.
Miami Hurricanes
Aug. 31 Notre Dame
Sept. 6 Bethune-Cookman
Sept. 13 USF
Sept. 20 Florida
Sep. 27 Bye
Oct. 4 Florida State
Oct. 11 Bye
Oct. 17 Louisville
Oct. 25 Stanford
Nov. 1 SMU
Nov. 8 Syracuse
Nov. 15 NC State
Nov. 22 Virginia Tech
Nov. 29 Pitt
The Miami Hurricanes are the hardest ACC team to judge on strength of schedule in 2025. On one hand, they play Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State and SMU. On the other hand, they don’t leave the state of Florida until Nov. 1 and only play four road games. ESPN has the Hurricanes ranked 36th in strength of schedule, with the fourth-toughest schedule inside the ACC.
Miami is coming off a 10-3 season, in a year that Mario Cristobal had the Hurricanes in the CFP conversation late into November. A late loss cost them their first CFP appearance in program history. Cristobal, entering year four, was brought to South Beach to make the Hurricanes relevant again and has yet to do so. For Cristobal, how the schedule plays out doesn’t have a CFP appearance looking good for 2025.
Miami opens the season against Notre Dame and the Canes will be breaking in a new QB with Heisman finalist Cam Ward heading to the NFL. It’s hard to replace a QB who passed for 4,313 yards, 39 TDs and only seven interceptions while completing 67.2 percent of his passes. Cristobal, however, might have by bringing in the No. 1 player and QB in the transfer portal in former Georgia starter Carson Beck. Beck had a down year in 2024 but still passed for 3,485, 28 TDs and 12 interceptions. Having a QB with Beck’s experience should give Miami a great opportunity to start the year with a big win.
BREAKING: Georgia transfer QB Carson Beck has committed to Miami, @PeteNakos_ reports🙌https://t.co/GQAtf5BbNn pic.twitter.com/VVzB29S4PF
— On3 (@On3sports) January 10, 2025
Miami should win their next two games fairly easily after the Fighting Irish. It’s the two games after Bethune-Cookman that the country will be anticipating. Miami welcomes in Florida from the SEC on Sept. 20 and then at Florida State on Oct. 4. Back-to-back, in-state rivalry games are something no Florida team wants on the schedule, but having the bye in between should help.
Nov. 1 is Miami’s next challenging game and will be the first time they leave the state when they play SMU. This game will certainly have huge playoff implications considering the winner of the ACC grabs an automatic berth in the playoff. Whatever the outcome Miami won’t have time to enjoy or dwell on it with Syracuse coming in the following week.
The 2025 season comes down to five games for the Canes. The question is if Cristobal can finally get it done or will it be just another year of underachieving in South Beach?
Florida State Seminoles
Aug. 30 Alabama
Sept. 6 East Texas A&M
Sept. 13 Bye
Sept. 20 Kent State
Sept. 26 Virginia
Oct. 4 Miami
Oct. 11 Pitt
Oct. 18 Stanford
Oct. 25 Bye
Nov. 1 Wake Forest
Nov. 8 Clemson
Nov. 15 Virginia Tech
Nov. 21 NC State
Nov. 29 Florida
Mike Norvell has one job in 2025—make it look nothing like 2024 after going 2-10 and only scoring more than 20 points two times. The Seminoles showed what happens when you get the portal wrong. The Seminoles brought in Transfer QB DJ Uiaglelei and he was terrible, throwing for 1,065 yards, four TDs and six interceptions in five games.
The 2025 season for FSU is again dependent on a transfer QB in Tommy Castellanos from Boston College. Castellanos comes to Tallahassee, Fla. as the 20th-ranked QB in the portal. In eight games last season, Castellanos passed for 1,366 yards, 18 TDs and five interceptions while completing 61.5 percent of his passes. Right from the start Castellanos will have the chance to prove this time Norvell got it right.
BREAKING: Boston College transfer QB Thomas Castellanos has committed to Florida State, per @Hayesfawcett3🍢https://t.co/pWTIeB6KWn pic.twitter.com/ffHaSstso1
— On3 (@On3sports) December 12, 2024
Florida State starts the season with Alabama heading to the Sunshine State for an ACC/SEC matchup. FSU doesn’t just play one SEC team in their nonconference, they play two with a Nov. 29 trip to play Florida in The Swamp. East Texas A&M and Kent State are the remainder of the nonconference schedule.
When it comes to the conference schedule, FSU’s two biggest matchups come against Miami on Oct. 4 and Clemson on Nov. 8. Miami come to Doak Cambell Stadium for the in-state, no-love loss matchup. Clemson looks to be better than a year ago and the game on the road will make it even harder to get the win. If Florida State is going to make the ACC championship and playoff in 2025, they will have to go at minimum 2-2 against Alabama, Miami, Clemson and Florida.
The remainder of the Seminoles’ schedule is made up of winnable games. If the season is going to be a success, they have to win all eight winnable games plus two against the top teams.