What could a 2023 FSU football schedule look like?

The ACC will officially release its 2023 football schedules on January 30th, solidifying matchups for the upcoming season.

It’s the first year that the conference will be switching over to a new structure for both scheduling and determining a conference champion, with the top two teams making the title game and divisions completely eliminated.

The new model is based on a 3-5-5 structure whereby each team will play three primary opponents annually and face the other 10 league teams twice during the four-year cycle, once at home and once on the road. The schedule allows for each team to face all 13 conference opponents home and away at least once during the four-year cycle.

The new schedule will eliminate the Atlantic and Coastal divisions with all 14 schools competing in one division beginning in 2023. The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the Subway ACC Football Championship Game on the first Saturday in December at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

As part of the new arrangement, Florida State will be facing off against the Clemson Tigers, Miami (FL) Hurricanes, and Syracuse Orange yearly, and from 2023 to 2026 will face off against the following opponents:

2023

Home: Duke, Miami (FL), Syracuse, Virginia Tech

Away: Boston College, Clemson, Pitt, Wake Forest

2024

Home: Boston College, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State

Away: Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), Syracuse, Virginia

2025

Home: Miami (FL), Pitt, Syracuse, Wake Forest

Away: Clemson, Duke, Louisville, Virginia Tech

2026

Home: Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Virginia

Away: Miami (FL), North Carolina, NC State, Syracuse

In 2023, Florida State has four non-conference opponents locked in — the Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, Southern Miss Golden Eagles and North Alabama Lions.

With those games already scheduled out, the only gaps left to fill in projecting a 2023 FSU football schedule are where the ACC games will take place.

Additionally, with no Week 0 game this season, the chances of FSU playing in a Friday game are relatively slim. Since 2016, the ACC has had Florida State play a conference game outside of Saturday four times (2016, 2017, 2018, 2022).

(There is a small chance that the conference has FSU play a Week 0 conference game, as ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has expressed previously that starting the season a week earlier makes sense ahead of playoff expansion.)

So how do we start to fill in the blanks? We have a little bit of help with other already-scheduled games.

• Boston College has games scheduled for September 2 (NIU), September 9 (Holy Cross), October 7 (at Army) and October 28 (UConn).
• Clemson has games scheduled for September 9 (Charleston Southern), September 16 (FAU), November 4 (Notre Dame) and November 25 (at South Carolina)
• Duke has games scheduled on September 9 (Lafayette), September 16 (Northwestern), September 23 (at UConn) and September 30 (Notre Dame).
• Miami has games scheduled on September 2 (Miami of Ohio), September 9 (Texas A&M), September 14 (Bethune-Cookman) and September 23 (at Temple).
• Pitt has games scheduled on September 2 (vs. Wofford), September 9 (vs. Cincinnati), September 16 (at West Virginia) and October 28 (at Notre Dame).
• Syracuse has games scheduled on September 2 (Colgate), September 9 (Western Michigan), September 16 (at Purdue) and September 23 (Army)
• Virginia Tech has games scheduled for September 2 (Old Dominion), September 9 (Purdue), September 16 (at Rutgers), September 23 (at Marshall) and November 25 (at Virginia).
• Wake Forest has games scheduled for August 31 (Elon), September 9 (Vanderbilt), September 16 (at Old Dominion) and November 18 (at Notre Dame).

Projected 2023 Florida State football schedule

Sunday, September 3: LSU Tigers (Orlando)

Saturday, September 9: Southern Miss

Saturday, September 16: at Boston College

Saturday, September 23: at Wake Forest

Saturday, September 30: Syracuse Orange

Saturday, October 7: Duke Blue Devils

Saturday, October 14: Miami Hurricanes

Saturday, October 21: at Pitt Panthers

Saturday, October 28: at Clemson Tigers

Saturday, November 4: BYE

Saturday, November 11: Virginia Tech

Saturday, November 18: North Alabama Lions

Saturday, November 25: at Florida Gators