PINEHURST, N.C. — John Swofford cannot say if Clemson will host a home game in Death Valley on a Friday night, but the ACC will try to avoid it if they can.

“We try to give great respect to the sensitivities that are there on individual institutional bases,” Swofford said Friday as part of the ACC Football Kickoff.

That sensitivity is high school football, which obviously is very important in the state of South Carolina on Friday nights. The ACC would like to reserve the Thursday and Friday night games it has been asked to produce by ESPN to school’s like Syracuse and Boston College, who have markets that do not compete with high school football.

And though Clemson isn’t likely to host a Friday night game, or another Thursday night game for some time, the Tigers will probably have to play a game in the next decade on a Friday.

“There are all kinds of things that come into play,” Swofford said. “We try to make it all work in a manner that gives the least pain as possible. You don’t want to ask a school to do something that gives it some heartburn at all, if you can avoid it. If you can’t avoid it, you don’t want to ask too often.”

Florida State will play at Syracuse on a Friday night this coming fall.

Clemson playing in Ireland? The ACC started the day by announcing Georgia Tech and Boston College will open the 2016 season in Ireland. So does this mean the Tigers will be playing a game in Ireland one day?

“We don’t have anything contractual that says we have to do it,” Swofford said. “What we are really working on is providing opportunities if our schools want to take advantage of it and it may or may not be a conference game.

“Boston College was very interested in playing and then started discussions with Georgia Tech, and the two schools are very excited about doing it. Notre Dame was there last year against Navy and Penn State played Central Florida within the last two years. It has been very successful.

“In talking with the Notre Dame people it has been a wonderful experience for the fans and the athletes alike.”

Autonomy is going well. Last year, the NCAA granted the Five Power Conferences autonomy and through the first year there has been new structure in the NCAA as well as the empowerment of the five power conferences.

“We feel we are off to a great start, particularly in the engagement and leadership from our (ACC member) institutions,” Swofford said.

The ACC had 11 of its 15 members at the recent Power 5 meetings, more than any other conference.

ACC is the best of the five. The ACC captured five national championships this past year for a second straight year. They also played for several other championships, which earned the ACC the highest cumulative rating among Power 5 Conference schools in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2014 listing of “Best Colleges.”

Nine ACC schools were honored last fall by the AFCA for their football graduation rates, including Clemson. The conference’s football programs have ranked first each of the last eight years in NCAA Academic Progress Rate.

“I’m proud of the position and potential that we have as a league, and that’s a tribute to the leadership at our member schools,” Swofford said. “Our 15 member institutions are committed to ensuring that the ACC’s cornerstones remain at the forefront of every discussion and decision.”

No television network, yet. Swofford announced the ACC is still working with ESPN and the conference is in a good position to get a television network up and running in the near future. He did not specify how long that was going to be, however.

He did say the conference is in excellent shape from an exposure standpoint with its current deal with ESPN. The conference has not officially released its television dollars for the 2014-’15 academic year.

Medical observers. Swofford announced the ACC will have two medical observers in the press box for every conference game this season. Each team will to have its own.

The medical observer will not be able to stop the game if he sees a player is playing injured, but he will work with the team to make sure that player is treated and is ruled safe to play.