Louisville Updated's Slate of 2026 ACC Opponents Announced

The Cardinals will be one of the handful of teams in the ACC to play nine league games next season.

Louisville football mascot Louie | Jared Anderson - Louisville Report

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program's full slate of opponents for the upcoming 2026 season is now official.

On Tuesday, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced the updated 2026 conference schedules for all 17 members. Earlier this year, the league announced that they would be moving from the current eight-game conference schedule to a nine-game slate. This would be fully implemented in 2027, but some teams would start playing nine league games in 2026 while some would remain at eight to fulfill previous scheduling obligations.

Louisville is one of the 12 ACC teams that will indeed be playing nine league games next season, as previously reported by Louisville Cardinals On SI. Fortunately for the Cardinals, their slate of conference opponents for next season remains almost completely unchanged.

UofL will still host Florida State, Pitt, SMU and Stanford; as well as travel to Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State and Syracuse. As for their ninth ACC game, it will be a home matchup against Wake Forest. Exact dates for these matchups is expected to be announced sometime in the next month.

It's the latest in a series of scheduling shakeups for Louisville. Last Wednesday, it was announced that the Cardinals had mutually agreed with Georgia to cancel their home-and-home series, which was set to start next year, then added a neutral-site matchup vs. Ole Miss in Nashville to kick off the 2026 season.

Then this past Thursday, it was announced that Louisville's home matchup vs. Charlotte next season, which was originally set for Sept. 26, 2026, had been officially canceled. The game was scrapped in order to make way for the ninth ACC game.

Prior to scheduling Ole Miss, Louisville was originally slated to open the 2026 season at home against Villanova. Their matchup with the Wildcats, who operate at the FCS level, will now likely be moved to a different date next season instead of outright canceled. The only other game in 2026 for Louisville with a fixed date is the Governor's Cup at Kentucky, which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 28.

Louisville Football's 2026 Opponents

Home:

• Florida State (Date TBA)
• Pitt (Date TBA)
• SMU (Date TBA)
• Stanford (Date TBA)
• Villanova (Date TBA)
• Wake Forest (Date TBA)

Away:

• Georgia Tech (Date TBA)
• Kentucky (Saturday, Nov. 28)
• North Carolina (Date TBA)
• NC State (Date TBA)
• Syracuse (Date TBA)

Neutral:

• Ole Miss (Saturday, Sept. 5 - Nissan Stadium)

(Photo of Louie: Jared Anderson - Louisville Cardinals On SI)

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