ACC Sets Kickoff Time for Wake Forest at Cal on Oct. 17

Cal will play under the lights for the third time this season when it hosts red-hot Wake Forest on Oct. 17 at Memorial Stadium, the ACC announced Monday.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be aired on either ESPN or ESPN2, which will be decided after this weekend’s action.

The Bears (2-3, 1-1 ACC) begin a two-game homestand this Saturday against Virginia Tech (4-1, 1-1) in a 12:30 p.m. start.

Cal and Wake (4-1, 2-1) are meeting for just the second time.

The Bears beat the Demon Deacons 46-36 in 2024 at Winston-Salem, NC as Fernando Mendoza passed for 385 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a TD. It was Cal’s first win in the ACC in their debut season in a new conference.

The teams did not face each other last season.

Wake has won two in a row, beating then-No,. 16 Louisville 30-27 on the road two weeks ago before crushing Stanford 57-3 at home on Saturday. The Deacons play at NC State (3-2, 1-1) on Saturday before visiting Berkeley for the first time.

The Demon Deacons are powered by quarterback Gio Lopez, who has thrown for 1,377 yards with 10 touchdowns and just one interception. Lopez accounted for five touchdowns in the win over Stanford.

Cal is coming off a 39-31 loss at UNLV and closed the nonconference portion of its schedule with a 1-2 ledger, its first losing record outside conference play since 2021.

The Bears have won just one of their three home games this season, beating FCS-level Wagner 49-7. Cal lost at home to UCLA and Clemson.

Cal has an assortment of significant injury questions heading into this week’s game against Virginia Tech.

Quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele sustained a head injury late in the first half at UNLV and did not play the rest of the game. Coach Tosh Lupoi reported afterward that Sagapolutele did not suffer a concussion for his status Saturday is undetermined.

Likewise, safety Kingston Lopa — who continues to lead the nation with five interceptions — left the game Saturday on the first defensive snap and did not return.

We’re unlikely to know the availability of either player until the ACC posts its initial injury report on Wednesday night.

Likewise, running backs Adam Mohammed and Carter Vargas are shelved by injuries.

Here are kickoff times and TV info for games involving ACC teams on Oct. 17, as announced by the conference:

Saturday, October 17

Pitt at Boston College – 9 a.m. PT on ESPN2

Virginia at SMU – 9 a.m. on The CW

Charleston Southern at Clemson – 9 a.m. on ACC Network

North Carolina at Duke – 12:30 p.m. on ESPN2

Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech – 12:30 p.m. on ACC Network

Florida State at Miami – 4 p.m. on ESPN

Louisville at Syracuse – 4:30 p.m. on ACC Network

Elon at Stanford – 4:30 p.m. on ACCNX – as previously announced

Wake Forest at California – 7:30 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2 - network designation after the games of 10/10

Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky

Add us as a preferred source on Google