The 17team ACC moves to a 9game conference schedule in 2026 ... with a twist Nick Bromberg December 17, 2025 at 5:15 AM 0 The ACC is moving to a ninegame schedule. But unlike the other three power conferences in college football, not every ACC team will play nine conference games every year going forward. The conference announced Tuesday that it would become the last power conference to add a ninth league game to its teams' schedules in 2026. But unlike the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, the ACC has an odd number of teams in the league.
- - The 17-team ACC moves to a 9-game conference schedule in 2026 ... with a twist
Nick Bromberg December 17, 2025 at 5:15 AM
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The ACC is moving to a nine-game schedule. But unlike the other three power conferences in college football, not every ACC team will play nine conference games every year going forward.
The conference announced Tuesday that it would become the last power conference to add a ninth league game to its teams' schedules in 2026. But unlike the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, the ACC has an odd number of teams in the league. Thanks to the arrivals of Stanford, Cal and SMU, the ACC has 17 football teams. It's not possible for every team to play nine games.
In 2026, 12 teams will play nine conference games while the other five play eight conference games. In 2027 and beyond, 16 teams will play nine league games while a rotating member of the league plays eight. The team playing eight conference games will be required to schedule two power conference opponents among its four non-conference games.
"Today's announcement of our 2026 football league opponents is another significant and intentional step forward for ACC Football," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. "Transitioning to a nine-game conference schedule strengthens our competitive framework, aligns us with the other Power Four conferences and provides greater consistency for our student-athletes, coaches and fans. This phased approach reflects our commitment to competitive equity, scheduling flexibility and delivering a premier football product across all 17 institutions."
The lopsided scheduling means we could be in for some more ACC tiebreaker chaos in 2026 after Duke won the league title in 2025. The five-loss Blue Devils won a five-way tiebreaker for second place in the conference standings at 6-2 ahead of Miami and three other teams. Duke's win over Virginia in the conference title game assured that the ACC's champion wouldn't make the College Football Playoff, but the CFP committee moved Miami ahead of Notre Dame in the final set of rankings and the ACC wasn't left out of the playoff entirely.
After Duke's title win, Phillips said the league would take a look at its tiebreakers going forward. It will now need to take into account tiebreakers for teams that haven't played the same number of conference games and the league said its tiebreaker policy would be "announced ahead of the 2026 season."
Cal, Duke, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Pitt, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest will each play nine conference games in 2026 while Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina will play eight conference games.
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: Sports
Published: December 16, 2025 at 04:27PM on Source: OPERA MAG
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