The ACC was gearing up for a week that was to star Florida State and Miami in a primetime battle in the sunshine state. However, Hurricane Irma’s path through the state of Florida is causing some more disruption to the college football schedule a week after wiping a handful of games off the calendar. With Florida State and Miami being moved back to October 7, the ACC will now get to take advantage of a prime time vacancy by showcasing the game that should have been there in the first place.
Clemson’s road game at Louisville will now take over the primetime slot for the ACC this week on ABC. The ACC Atlantic Division battle between the reigning national champions and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner (Lamar Jackson) was originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m. This will be just the fourth time in college football history the defending national champs will face the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, and it will be just the third time it has happened in the regular season.
Clemson at UofL will be the fourth game in college football history to feature a reigning national champion vs. a reigning Heisman winner. pic.twitter.com/CgUxZDgHEA
— Kelly Dickey (@RealCardGame) September 8, 2017
Clemson won last year’s meeting with the Cardinals in Death Valley, and both teams are off to 2-0 starts this season. The matchup will now go head-to-head in the main prime time slot against USC vs. Texas on FOX.
The ACC also shuffled a few other games to adjust their Week 3 schedule as well. Boston College’s home game against Notre Dame will move from a noon kickoff to 3:30 p.m. on ESPN. Pittsburgh’s home game against Oklahoma State will remain at noon but will be bumped to ESPN. Virginia’s home game against UConn will now air on ESPN2, also kicking off at noon.
“I appreciate the cooperation and flexibility by our institutional leadership and television partners in making these changes possible,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford in a released statement.
