The ACC is moving toward a nine-game conference schedule in football.
The conference’s athletic directors “overwhelmingly” supported the addition of extra league games, commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement Monday. The move still requires formal adoption by the conference’s faculty athletics representatives.
The ACC’s decision, assuming it is finalized, comes a month after the SEC announced it is expanding its league slate from eight games to nine in 2026. Like the SEC, the ACC will require teams to play at least one other Power 4 opponent. That requirement helps protect the conferences’ annual in-state rivalries: Clemson-South Carolina, Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech and Louisville-Kentucky.
The Big Ten and Big 12 already play nine conference games. The Big 12 also requires one nonconference Power 4 game, but the Big Ten does not.
ACC Football ADs vote in favor of a regular-season schedule that includes 9 conference games and a minimum of 10 games each year against P4 opponents.
Statement from ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D.: pic.twitter.com/5XPe4GVoa3
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) September 22, 2025
Both the SEC, which has 16 teams, and ACC have discussed adding a ninth conference game for years, but the ACC faced a mathematical challenge with 17 football-playing members (Notre Dame remains an independent in that sport but plays a handful of ACC teams each year).
The ACC’s plan, according to people briefed on the decision, is for some schools to play eight conference games and two Power 4 opponents and others to play nine ACC plus one P4, as early as 2026. The hope is that just one ACC school would have to play eight conference games in 2027 and beyond. Conference winning percentage would determine the standings, as was the case across leagues in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic made for an unequal number of games. ACC-scheduled games against non-football member Notre Dame would not count in the conference standings.
The move will lead to tough scheduling decisions, as nonconference games are typically planned years in advance. Florida State, for example, plays Florida annually, has a return trip to Alabama next year and also has a home-and-home series scheduled against Georgia for 2027-28.
The ACC’s current scheduling model has led to occasionally clunky matchups. Conference colleagues Virginia and NC State played a nonconference game against each other earlier this month, a reoccurrence for several ACC schools looking to play Power 4 opponents without traveling far.
“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,” Phillips said.