Heisman winner Jameis Winston and national champion Florida State will have to navigate a 2014 schedule that includes five games against teams that won at least nine games during the '13 season.
The ACC became the last of the "big five" leagues to release its 2014 schedules, making them public Wednesday.
Winston and the Seminoles open the season with a non-conference showdown against Oklahoma State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Aug. 30. FSU's other games against teams with at least nine victories in '13 come against Clemson, Louisville, Notre Dame and Miami. There's also the annual regular-season finale against Florida, which will be coming off its worst season since 1979.
The Clemson game, the early front-runner for most important matchup in the ACC next season, is Sept. 20, and it'll be the conference opener for both. FSU thrashed the Tigers at Clemson last season, and the '14 game will be in Tallahassee. Notre Dame also will visit Tallahassee, while the Seminoles will travel to play Louisville, which will be in its first season in the ACC this fall, on a Thursday night.
One of the most eagerly anticipated individual matchups of the entire season will come in the Clemson game, when FSU left tackle Cameron Erving will go against Tigers defensive end Vic Beasley. Erving dominated Beasley this season.
Some other items of interest from the schedules:
» Louisville's first game as an ACC member comes at home against Miami on Labor Day night in a nationally televised encounter. The teams met in the Russell Athletic Bowl to close the 2013 season, and Louisville rolled, 36-9. This time, though, both will have different quarterbacks: Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater went pro a year early and Miami's Stephen Morris was a senior. It also will be Bobby Petrino's first game in his second go-round as Louisville's coach. "I like a big game to start the season," Petrino said in a release on Louisville's website. "It plays into recruiting to play on a Monday night when no one else is playing."
» Louisville's first ACC schedule features some big matchups. In addition to the aforementioned games against FSU and Miami, the Cardinals also play Clemson and Notre Dame.
» As part of its deal with the ACC that includes full-fledged conference membership in every sport but football, Notre Dame agreed to play four ACC football teams each season. In 2014, the Irish face FSU, Louisville, Syracuse and North Carolina.
» Along with traditional season-ending non-conference games against foes such as Florida, Georgia Tech and South Carolina, ACC teams will face the likes of Oklahoma State (FSU), UCLA (Virginia), Ohio State (Virginia Tech), USC (Boston College), Nebraska (Miami) and Iowa (Pittsburgh) in non-conference play. For the second season in a row, Clemson will open the season with Georgia and close it against South Carolina.
» Wake Forest has two road games against teams outside of the Big Five conferences -- Louisiana-Monroe and Utah State. They are the only Big Five school to do so in 2014.
» Former ACC member Maryland will play one former league foe -- the Terps meet Syracuse (which is headed into its second season in the conference) on Sept. 20.
» There are 14 games against FCS schools -- every league member is playing one FCS opponent.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
