There is added zip for Louisville linebacker TJ Quinn when it comes to playing a Friday night game.

“It’s all eyes on us, and I like that,” Quinn said.

And these days, there’s a lot more chances in the Atlantic Coast Conference and across the power conferences, for that matter.

Friday nights have gone from being largely about high school football, then mid-majors and Group of Five conferences, to now another showcase for the country’s biggest leagues. The ACC has 12 Friday games this season — this week it’s Louisville hosting James Madison — to tie last year’s league record, while the number of those games have also increased in the Big Ten, Big 12 and the Southeastern conferences.

The leagues have marched toward those TV slots, many vacated by the Pac-12 after most of that league’s schools scattered to the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten. The NFL has a game this Friday, too, though that’s a rarity during college football season.

The ACC started its run of Friday night games in Week 1 with Georgia Tech’s win at Colorado and Wake Forest holding off Kennesaw State in Jake Dickert’s coaching debut with the Demon Deacons.

The 2025 schedule includes No. 14 Florida State visiting Virginia (Sept. 26) and N.C. State (Nov. 21); North Carolina and new coach Bill Belichick crossing the country to face California (Oct. 17) and visiting Syracuse (Oct. 31); and No. 4 Georgia’s trip to Georgia Tech to cap the regular-season schedule (Nov. 28).

“You have to continue to modernize how you’re looking at scheduling,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in an interview with The Associated Press. “You have to be honest with yourself about the compression that exists now on Saturdays with the number of games, and the number of quality teams that are playing all over. So there’s a limited number of windows, and you have a terrific partner with ESPN.

“Friday night has become something that people are now expecting to see football. … So nothing stays the same in life. And we’re going to be aggressive there.”

The new norm

To Phillips’ point, look at the most important event on the sport’s calendar: the College Football Playoff. Last year’s first expanded 12-team format began with Notre Dame’s home win against Indiana, the first time the tradition-rich football independent had hosted a Friday night game.

That’s one of six Friday games in the CFP since its launch in the 2014 season, which offers a snapshot of how much things have changed when it comes to those Friday TV windows.

That year, the Pac-12 had eight Friday regular-season games, while the ACC had four, the Big Ten had two, and the Big 12 and SEC each had one. That power-conference total (16) was less than half that of the Group of Five conferences at the Bowl Subdivision level; the American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt conference combined for 43 that year.

But things have changed amid realignment and the formation of super-sized conferences at the top of the sport.

Beyond the ACC’s 12 Friday games, the Big Ten has 13 a year after a record 15. The Big 12 has 12 and the SEC has four, both all-time highs. And while there is some overlap with inter-league matchups, that combined total (41) exceeds that of the Group of Five (34) for the third straight year.

It’s also a sign of how the business of college football has reached into days once considered sacrosanct for high school games.

“I wish there’s something I could do instead there,” Phillips said. “But I’m hoping with the announcement of when games are, that maybe those areas that are hosting those games, maybe there’s an alternative for Friday night football.”

Louisville coach Jeff Brohm, whose team plays an ACC-high three Friday nighters this season, sees that as less of a concern.

“You don’t want to take away from high school football, but at the same time, I don’t know if that truly does as much as people think,” he said. “If you do it a few times a year, I think it’s beneficial. I think it’s exciting. Fans get to do something different on a weeknight. Maybe even go somewhere else on the weekend — you can go to another game.”

High profile, more money

Regardless, it’s a well-timed growth for ACC schools in terms of money amid the league’s years-long efforts to close a revenue gap behind the Big Ten and SEC.

Earlier this year, the league, Florida State and Clemson settled a crossfire of lawsuits with terms that included a change this year to the revenue-distribution model. Specifically, it has 60% of league TV revenues go into a pot for distrbution based on a rolling five-year formula tied to viewership, while the remaining 40% would be distributed equally.

So getting prime placement on a Friday night can only help the bottom line.

“Those are good points,” Brohm said. “I think even if you take away that, from a football aspect, we’ve always been in favor of weeknight games.”

The Cardinals’ Friday games include a trip to No. 5 Miami (Oct. 17) and a home game with eighth-ranked Clemson (Nov. 14).

FSU, California, UNC, Georgia Tech and Syracuse are the other league teams with multiple Friday games, each playing two. Orange defensive back Berry Buxton III loves the idea of playing Colgate (Sept. 12) and the Tar Heels on Halloween for those Friday matchups.

“You play on a Friday, there’s not a couple of games on in the same time slot,” Buxton said. “Everybody wants to watch college football. On a Friday, if you’re the only game on, they’re going to tune in whether they know your team or not.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football