CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Stanford and California will make history this weekend, as the two newest members of the Atlantic Coast Conference will kick off their first football games as members of the now 18-team league (17 teams in football) on Friday, August 30, and Saturday, August 31, respectively.
Cal and Stanford, along with SMU, joined the ACC after the ACC Board of Directors voted to formally admit the three schools on September 1, 2023. The Mustangs officially joined the ACC on July 1, 2024, while the Golden Bears and Cardinal joined the league as full-time members on August 2, 2024.
SMU played its first football game as a member of the ACC last week on Saturday, August 24, scoring a 29-24 come-from-behind road win over Nevada.
Stanford’s first game as an ACC member is set for a 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Friday against TCU from Stanford Stadium on ESPN.
The contest will start Stanford’s second season under head coach Troy Taylor. In his first season on The Farm in 2023, Stanford went 3-9 overall, including 2-7 in Pac-12 games.
The 2024 season marks the second time in the last five seasons that Stanford has opened the season at home. The Cardinal opened the 2022 season at home against Colgate with a 41-10 win. Stanford has won the last nine times it has opened a season at home, dating back to 2008.
Stanford had been a member of the Pac-12 for 106 years, joining the league in 1919 when it was called the Pacific Coast Conference (1919-58) and then remaining as part of the conference over four different name changes in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (1959-67), Pacific-8 Conference (1968-77), Pacific-10 Conference (1978-2010) and Pac-12 Conference (2011-23).
The Cardinal football team has won 15 conference championships, including sharing four conference titles during its time in the Pac-12. The Cardinal have the fourth-most Pac-12 titles, with the last one coming in 2015.
Overall, Stanford football has won two national championships, the first in 1926 under head coach Pop Warner and the second in 1940 under head coach Clark Shaughnessy, and has played in 30 bowl games, including 15 appearances in the Rose Bowl.
The Cardinal’s inaugural ACC home slate features Virginia Tech on October 5, SMU on October 19, Wake Forest on October 26, and Louisville on…
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