The NC State Wolfpack and Virginia Cavaliers have scheduled a non-conference home-and-home football series for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, both schools announced on Wednesday.
Although NC State and Virginia are both members of the ACC, they are not scheduled to play each other during the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Therefore, the two schools opted to schedule a series that will not count in the conference standings.
To kickoff the two-game series, NC State will host Virginia at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. The series will wrap up during the 2026 season when the Wolfpack visit the Cavaliers at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va., on a date to be determined.
NC State last squared off with Virginia in Charlottesville in 2023, which resulted in a 24-21 Wolfpack victory. The Wolfpack have won three consecutive games over the Cavaliers and currently lead the overall series, 37-22-1, which dates back to their first meeting in 1904.
With the addition of Virginia as a non-conference opponent, NC State is now overscheduled in 2025 and 2026 and will need to cancel or reschedule some existing contests. NC State’s 2025 slate also includes home tilts with East Carolina (Aug. 30) and Campbell (Oct. 4) and road trips to face Notre Dame (date TBD) and Appalachian State (previously scheduled for Sept. 6).
The Wolfpack are currently scheduled to open the 2026 season at home against Florida on Sept. 5. NC State is slated to host Richmond the following week on Sept. 12, travel to face Vanderbilt on Sept. 19, and host Appalachian State on Sept. 26.
The App State series would be the easiest to postpone or reschedule since it spans both seasons. However, NC State now has three non-conference power opponents scheduled in 2026 (Florida, NC State, and Vanderbilt), so there may be a change there.
With the addition of NC State, Virginia has tentatively completed its non-conference slates for both the 2025 and 2026 seasons. In 2025, the Cavs are scheduled to open against Coastal Carolina on Aug. 30 and later host William & Mary on Sept. 13 and Washington State on Sept. 27.
Virginia’s 2026 schedule also includes contests at home against Delaware on Sept. 26, at Notre Dame on Oct. 17, and at home versus Norfolk State on Nov. 21.
Football Schedules
Is this the sign that the ACC moves to 9 conference games or perhaps something more nefarious in the works?
Don’t think so.
As long as the ACC has an odd number of teams (17), they can’t go to an odd number of conference fames, the math just doesn’t work. I think this is probably two teams that may go a long break without seeing each other because of the conference rotation wanting to schedule something in the interim.
One way you can do 9 conference games with 17 teams is to have the last placed team scheduled 8 conference games, and add an FCS team
That team probably wouldn’t be challenging for a conference title so it would give them a chance to have an extra win
Two thoughts:
1. NC St wants another 2025 OOC home game and rather not play at App St.
2. Florida wants to cancel a 2026 OOC game in prep for moving to a 9-game SEC schedule.