24 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
BY MATT CARTER
hen he was the head
coach at NC State, Tom
O'Brien enjoyed tak-
ing subtle jabs at the
ACC football schedul-
ers over the fact that
his team typically had
to start conference play
on the road. O'Brien had the data to back
it up, though. In the final five years of his
six-season tenure in Raleigh, the Wolfpack
opened conference play away from home.
The league office has been kinder to Dave
Doeren in that regard. Only twice in his pre-
vious seven seasons has he began the ACC
slate on the road, ironically both times at
Florida State (2017 and 2019). Perhaps the
league is making up for lost time with the
2020 schedule. Three of NC State's first four
games, and four of the first six — all ACC
contests — will be held outside of Raleigh.
If looking for some similar setups to be-
gin a season, in 1992 the Pack played four of
its first six contests away from Carter-Finley
Stadium, but one of those was a 24-14 win
over No. 15 Iowa in the Kickoff Classic on
a neutral field. That team finished the year
W
BRAND-NEW
SLATE
A Newly Revised, Quirky Schedule Was Released By The ACC
The ACC's revamped schedule for head coach Dave Doeren's squad — which consists of 10 league contests and one non-conference game — saw
three annual Atlantic Division foes (Boston College, Clemson and Louisville) drop off and now includes all seven members of the Coastal Division.
PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN
