Hurricanes face FSU in Week 3.

Team will play three of five games on road to open the season

In each of the past two seasons, October has proven a brutal month for the Miami Hurricanes.

This year, one of the biggest challenges on their schedule will come earlier than that.

Just two weeks after hosting Bethune-Cookman in its season opener, Miami faces rival Florida State in Tallahassee on Sept. 16, hoping to break a seven-game skid against the Seminoles.

That matchup, one always circled by Hurricanes fans, is one of three road games in the first five weeks of Miami’s schedule, which was released Tuesday.

During that stretch — which also includes a Sept. 9 game at Arkansas State and a Sept. 29 showdown at Duke — the new-look Hurricanes will likely get a good idea of where they stand in their efforts to replace several veteran playmakers, including Brad Kaaya, David Njoku, Stacy Coley, Corn Elder and Jamal Carter.

The Hurricanes will be a more experienced squad when they host another rival – Notre Dame – on Nov. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium. That game marks the Irish’s first visit to Miami since 1989.

Between those two rivalry games against FSU and Notre Dame, though, the Hurricanes will have to contend with that September stretch and an early-October bye before a seven-week sprint to finish the regular season at Pittsburgh on Nov. 24 during Thanksgiving weekend.

That game against the Panthers is one of three non-Saturday games on Miami’s schedule this season.

The Hurricanes, who are coming off a 9-4 season and their first bowl win in a decade, will face both Duke and Pittsburgh on Fridays, while their annual nationally televised Thursday night game will come Oct. 12 against

Georgia Tech at Hard Rock Stadium.

The schedule will then feature an Oct. 21 cross-division matchup against old Big East foe Syracuse, an Oct. 29 game at North Carolina, a Nov. 4 home game against Virginia Tech, and a Nov. 18 home game against Virginia.

While the early portion of the schedule features its challenges, the end of the season sets up nicely for the Hurricanes, who will make the push for their first Coastal Division title while playing three of their last four games at home. Also helping Miami’s cause? The fact the Hurricanes don’t have to face defending national champion Clemson or Louisville in conference play.

Also, many Costal Division foes — North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Pittsburgh — will all have new quarterbacks under center, like Miami, which will have to replace Kaaya, its all-time leading passer. Only Virginia with Kurt Benkert and Duke with Thomas Sirk or Daniel Jones will return quarterbacks that played for them previously.

The majority of the nonconference games should help the Hurricanes too, with Miami posting a combined 6-0 record against Bethune-Cookman, Arkansas State and Toledo.

The complete schedule for Miami: Sept. 2: Bethune-Cookman Sept. 9: at Arkansas State Sept. 16: at Florida State Sept. 23: Toledo Sept. 29: at Duke (Fri.)

Oct. 12: Georgia Tech (Thu.)

Oct. 21: Syracuse Oct. 28: at North Carolina Nov. 4: Virginia Tech Nov. 11: Notre Dame Nov. 18: Virginia Nov. 24: at Pitt (Fri.)

MIKE EHRMANN/GETTY IMAGES FILE Deondre Francois of the Florida State Seminoles looks to pass during a 2016 game against the Miami Hurricanes. Just two weeks after its 2017 season opener, Miami faces FSU in Tallahassee.