In what might have been an expected move, Duke’s season-opening football game has been moved up two days.

Duke will play host to Elon on Aug. 28, a Thursday night. When the schedule was originally announced in late January, the game was slated for Aug. 30.

It will be the fifth straight season Duke doesn’t play its season-opening game on a Saturday. Last year’s game, also against Elon and a 26-3 win by the Blue Devils, was played on a Friday night.

Kickoff time and TV designation will be announced at a later date. Right now, the only other ACC game slated for Aug. 28 is East Carolina at N.C. State. The only other ACC team slated to be in action before Aug. 28 is Stanford, which plays at Hawaii on Aug. 23.

Duke’s last season-opening game on a Saturday was during the COVID season of 2020, when the Blue Devils opened at Notre Dame on Sept. 12. They also opened on a Saturday in the prior season, against Alabama.

Duke is coming off a 9-4 season, Manny Diaz’s first at the helm as head coach.