ACC commissioner Jim Phillips announced Monday that the conference’s athletic directors voted “overwhelmingly” to adopt a new future football schedule that will require teams to play a minimum of 10 Power 4 opponents each season, including nine conference games.
“We have been incredibly intentional throughout our discussions on ACC Football, including the future of our conference schedule. Today, the athletic directors of the 17 football-playing institutions overwhelmingly supported a regular season schedule that includes nine conference games and a minimum of 10 games each year against Power 4 opponents. This positions the ACC as one of only two leagues committed to having every team annually play a minimum of 10 games against Power 4 teams. There will be additional discussions and more details to be determined, but today’s decision showcases the commitment and leadership of our ADs in balancing what is best for strengthening the conference and their respective programs. As specified in the Conference constitution, the model will be presented to the Faculty Athletics Representatives for formal adoption.”
Phillips was pushing for this model ahead of Monday’s meeting with the athletic directors, as he hoped to follow the SEC’s model that they announced for the 2026 season. What we don’t know just yet is when the ACC will go to this scheduling format or what the exact structure of the new nine-game ACC schedule will be.
The SEC’s expansion to a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2026 was motivated at least partially by College Football Playoff metrics that give extra weight to wins against quality opponents. The SEC’s revised slate requires three permanent conference opponents while rotating the remaining six, with all teams mandated to face at least one Power Four opponent or Notre Dame each season.
SEC football schedule: Predicting the annual opponents for all 16 teams as league shifts to nine-game model
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We have already seen how the SEC’s new scheduling format has caused some teams to cancel future non-conference matchups due to the additional conference game, and that’s something ACC teams could be forced to consider in the near-future. Programs such as Louisville have future matchups lined up with Georgia and Texas A&M, on top of their annual rivalry game against Kentucky. It’s not clear if they would look to cancel those future games or be willing to take on 11 Power 4 games on their schedule.
Other ACC programs like Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech have rivalry games with SEC opponents that could fulfill that 10-game minimum, but may preclude major early season non-conference matchups like Clemson and FSU played this season.
There is also the question of how this impacts the ACC’s ongoing partnership with Notre Dame, in which the Fighting Irish play five ACC opponents each season. Playing Notre Dame could fulfill the 10-game requirement for teams, but teams with those established rivals in other Power 4 conferences may not have space on their schedule for Notre Dame.
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