WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest will play seven home football games in 2019 as the Atlantic Coast Conference on Wednesday released the football schedules for all ACC teams.
For the second straight year, the Demon Deacons will be at home for seven contests including league tilts against Louisville, Florida State, NC State and Duke.
Wake Forest will play its traditional Big Four rivals North Carolina, NC State and Duke in the same season for the first time since 2015. The coming season will mark the first time since 1921 that the Deacons have had all three Big Four opponents at home.
Wake Forest’s first four contests will all be non-conference games. The Deacons open the 2019 season against Utah State on Friday, August 30. The Aggies were 11-2 in 2018 and won the Mountain West Conference Mountain Division and the New Mexico Bowl. The Deacons will visit Rice in Houston on September 7. The Deacons defeated the Owls 56-24 at BB&T Field last fall.
Wake Forest will then host North Carolina in a non-conference meeting on Thursday, Sept. 12. When the game was scheduled in January 2015, it marked the first time that two Power 5 conference members agreed to play each other in a football contest scheduled originally as a non-conference game. Wake Forest will visit Chapel Hill in a non-league encounter in 2021.
After a final non-conference home game with Elon on Sept. 21, the Deacons will play eight ACC games over the final 10 weeks of the regular season.
Wake Forest opens league play at Boston College on Sept. 28, then enjoys an open date on Oct. 5 before starting a three-game homestand. The Deacons host Louisville on Oct. 12 and Florida State on Oct. 19. After a second open date on Oct. 26, Wake Forest hosts NC State on Nov. 2.
The final stretch of the season includes the Coastal Division cross-over contest at Virginia Tech on Nov. 9 and a visit to defending national champion Clemson on Nov. 16. The Clemson game will mark Wake Forest’s 12th all-time game against the defending national champion. The final home game of the year at BB&T Field is slated for Nov. 23 against Duke before Wake Forest closes the regular season at Syracuse on Nov. 30.
Wake Forest is coming off a 7-6 season that included a 37-34 victory over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl. The Deacons have posted three straight winning seasons and three consecutive bowl victories under head coach Dave Clawson.
All game times and broadcast networks will be announced at a later date.
