In Night 2 of the opening weekend of the 2025 ACC Football season, Georgia Tech opens at Colorado, where former Liberty QB Kaidon Salter is the new QB1 for Deion Sanders.
Wake Forest is also opening its 2025 season, and a new era, tonight – with new head coach Jake Dickert leading his team into battle with Kennesaw State.
Thursday: Duke, NC State open with Ws
Duke, a 37-point favorite, was tied 10-10 at the half with Elon, before pulling away in the fourth quarter to a 45-17 win on Thursday in Durham.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Darian Mensah, in his first start at Duke after transferring in from Tulane in the offseason, passed for 389 yards and three TDs in the win.
The score makes it look more comfortable than it was. Elon, an FCS program, pulled to 24-17 early in the fourth on a 3-yard TD run by Landyn Backey.
Duke went 80 yards on its next possession, capping the drive with a 6-yard TD pass from Mensah to Sahmir Hagans.
A Que’Sean Brown 78-yard punt-return TD with 9:18 to go put the game away.
“Whatever happened in the first half, let it go,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “I felt once we got going, we took over the game.”
Well, yes, in the fourth quarter.
NC State had the opposite problem – a 17-0 second quarter lead on East Carolina, a 24-7 lead going into the fourth, and then, the Pack had to hold on for the 24-17.
ECU’s final possession ended on a fourth-and-1 pass inside the State 10 with 37 seconds left that failed to pick up the first down.
Yeah.
The opener was a rematch of the Military Bowl, the 2024 season finale for both teams, which ECU won, 26-21.
That one was marred by a late-game brawl that State coach Dave Doeren said “tarnished our reputation.”
“This game wasn’t about ECU,” Doeren said last night, adding: “This game was about getting our identity back and playing hard, tough, together football.”
Tonight’s games
Kennesaw State at Wake Forest
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Series: First Meeting
TV: ACC Network
SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 380
SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 970 / SiriusXM 973
Line: Wake Forest -18.5
Over/under: 50.5
Projected final score: Wake Forest 34, Kennesaw State 17
Game Notes: The Jake Dickert era at Wake Forest kicks off Friday night as the Demon Deacons face the Kennesaw State Owls in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Running back Demond Claiborne returns as the centerpiece of the Wake Forest offense after surpassing 1,000 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns last season. On defense, the Deacs will once again lean on All-American defensive back Nick Andersen, who led the ACC with 122 tackles in 2024.
Kennesaw State, coming off its first season at the FBS level (2-10, 2-6 Conference USA) last year, turns to Jerry Mack to guide its next chapter. Mack, who previously led North Carolina Central to three MEAC championships, will make his FBS head coaching debut against the Demon Deacons.
Georgia Tech at Colorado
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Series: First Meeting
TV: ESPN
SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM 81 / SiriusXM 371
SiriusXM App: SiriusXM 81 / SiriusXM 371
Line: Georgia Tech -3.5
Over/under: 51.5
Projected final score: Georgia Tech 28, Colorado 24
Game Notes: Georgia Tech and Colorado will meet for the first time on Friday night in Boulder.
Coming off a 7-6 campaign in 2024, the Yellow Jackets return 14 starters, split evenly between offense and defense. Quarterback Haynes King enters his third season as the starter, having thrown for at least 2,100 yards and 14 touchdowns in each of his first two years. In the backfield, Jamal Haynes is back after racking up more than 2,000 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns over the past two seasons.
Georgia Tech has made back-to-back bowl appearances and will be making its first trip west of the Mississippi since 2013, when it faced BYU.
Colorado is coming off a 9-4 season but must replace heavy production, returning just three offensive starters and 14.5 percent of its total yardage from 2024. The Buffaloes are 1-5 all-time against ACC opponents, with their only win coming against Clemson in the 1957 Orange Bowl. This will be their first matchup with an ACC team since 2008.
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Chris Graham
