Phil Steele ranks ACC Football schedules from toughest to easiest

College football writer Phil Steele broke down the schedules across college football and ranked each toughest to easiest, including the ACC. All 17 teams have interesting slates.

Some of the best teams have pretty difficult schedules and vice versa. Of course, this is all on paper and the games have to be played. Herm Edwards said something like that!

With that, let’s dive into the ACC schedules from toughest to easiest in 2025. We start with one of the better stories of last season. The ranking in parentheses reflects the ranking nationwide.

1. Syracuse (5)

Syracuse has the toughest schedule in the ACC and one of the toughest schedules in the country, per Steele. It starts with Tennessee in Atlanta on August 30th.

Some other games include Clemson on the road, as well as SMU and Miami on the road. Oh yeah, Syracuse has to go to Notre Dame in late November.

2. Stanford (10)

Stanford is already in a major rebuild with interim head coach Frank Reich leading the charge. The Cardinal have to go to BYU in Week 3, as well as SMU and Miami in October. 

Stanford also has to host Notre Dame in the final week of the season and who knows where they are at that point. This is a very, very difficult schedule.

3. Boston College (25)

The Eagles have back to back road games at Michigan State and then on the west coast at Stanford in September. A rough start to the schedule. 

After a road game at Pitt, Boston College hosts Clemson on October 11th. Later in the month, they’ll have a road game at Louisville and also have to host Notre Dame and SMU back-to-back.

4. Clemson (29)

Clemson might be a more popular pick for the national title than the teams in front of them on this list, but they have a difficult schedule. They open with LSU at home and also have road dates with North Carolina, Louisville and South Carolina on the schedule.

They’ll be favored in most, if not all, the games on their schedule. But there are some difficult ones, including SMU and Duke coming to town in the span of three weeks.

5. Louisville (33)

Louisville is in the top five in terms of difficult schedules in the ACC. But, being outside the top 30 in the country is a little bit of relief compared to some other schools. 

The Cardinals have road dates at Pitt and Miami in the span of four weeks. They also have to go to Virginia Tech in November, as well as SMU. Oh yeah, Clemson comes to town, but at least that game is at home!

6. Miami (34)

Miami doesn’t open the schedule with any cakewalk as Notre Dame comes to South Florida. The Hurricanes do the Florida rounds in the first few weeks, but get to host USF and Florida.

They’ll be at Florida State following a bye week and they can finally leave the Sunshine State. Well, not yet. Miami does have a true road game until November 1st when they take on SMU.

7. Duke (36)

Duke has an interesting schedule to start with Illinois at home in their second game, immediately followed by a road contest at Tulane. There’s also road dates at Syracuse and Cal back to back.

The team will have two bye weeks in the span of 21 days but then have three road games out of the next four. That includes Clemson, UConn and North Carolina.

8. NC State (41)

NC State is in the middle of the ACC in terms of schedule difficulty, but still in the top third nationwide. The Wolfpack have road games in September at Wake Forest and Duke.

It’ll get a little more difficult from there with Notre Dame on the road in October. Later in the year, they have to travel to Miami but at least get home games against Florida State and North Carolina.

9. Georgia Tech (42)

Georgia Tech’s schedule isn’t too difficult, but there are some games that definitely need to be circled. They open at Colorado and have Clemson at home two weeks later.

The Yellow Jackets also have road games at Duke, NC State and Boston College. Not to mention the season finale is in Atlanta against rival Georgia.

10. Pittsburgh (49)

Pitt gets Duquense, from across the water, to open the schedule. But, the Panthers have to travel to rival West Virginia for the third game. 

There’s also road games at Florida State, Syracuse and cross country to Stanford. While Notre Dame and Miami are on the docket, they are at least at home.

11. Virginia Tech (55)

The Hokies have to open the season with South Carolina, but the good news is it’s at a neutral site and not quite on the road. The schedule softens up a bit afterwards with games against Old Dominion and Wofford.

Virginia Tech has to host Vanderbilt in September, as well as Louisville and Miami later in the year. Other road games include Florida State and rival Virginia.

12. California (61)

Cal opens with Oregon State on the road, so the schedule didn’t give them a far road trip to open. Minnesota has to come to town, so that’s a bit of a relief.

The rest of the schedule, which isn’t as difficult as most in the ACC, includes Virginia Tech, Louisville and rival Stanford on the road. The Golden Bears will close with SMU at home.

13. Wake Forest (62)

Wake Forest gets four straight home games to open the 2025 schedule. They’ll have road games at Virginia Tech and Oregon State in October to get a little more difficulty.

SMU comes to town but the back half is a little more challenging. Wake has to go to Florida State, Virginia and Duke in November.

14. North Carolina (67)

The first year of Bill Belichick kicks off with TCU at home on September 1st. UNC doesn’t have a particularly difficult schedule, since it’s in the middle of the pack nationwide and near the bottom of the ACC.

They get to host Clemson in October and the road games don’t prove to be daunting. They include UCF, Cal, Syracuse, Wake Forest and NC State.

15. SMU (74)

Following a year where they made the ACC Championship and College Football Playoff, SMU gets an easy-ish schedule. Although, there’s a championship rematch in October at Clemson.

The Mustangs get a little reprieve since they have Miami and Louisville at home though. Otherwise, SMU should be favored in most of their games.

16. Florida State (75)

Florida State has an easy schedule by comparison to others in the ACC. But coming off a disastrous 2024 campaign, nothing’s easy.

They have to open up with Alabama at home on August 30th. Woof. The good news is, the Seminoles have home games against Miami, Pitt and Virginia Tech. But interestingly, FSU has to go to Clemson, NC State and Florida but it’s still a middle of the pack schedule.

17. Virginia (89)

Virginia has the easiest schedule in the ACC, Steele writes. It’s on the lower half of the difficulty scale nationwide as well.

The Cavaliers get a non-conference slate at home including Coastal Carolina, William and Mary and Washington State. The most difficult road games look like Louisville and Duke.