RALEIGH — One casualty of the ACC’s conference expansion over the last two decades is games like NC State and Virginia. The ACC foes played each season from 1960 to 2003, but have met just three times since 2012 as the league ballooned to 12, then 14 and now 17 teams.
NC State (1-0) and Virginia (1-0) will meet Saturday in Raleigh for a nonconference game that won’t count toward the league standings, an unusual but not unprecedented event. North Carolina and Wake Forest played nonconference games in 2019 and 2021.
NC State rescheduled a game with App State to add the Cavaliers for another game against a member of the ACC, SEC, Big Ten or Big 12 – known as the Power 4 conferences.
“You want to play nine or 10 Power 4 games because of your strength of schedule,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said. “And when you’re looking for those Power 4 games, I like looking for games in our recruiting regional footprint because it’s easier for our parents and fans, and we know who Virginia is. You go play BYU or Utah or somebody like that, you’re starting from scratch.”
Scheduling could get even tougher for the ACC. The Big Ten and Big 12 already play nine conference games. After years of debate, the SEC announced in August that it would move to a nine-game conference schedule in 2026.
That leaves the ACC on an island with its current eight-game conference schedule.
With 17 football-playing members, it is mathematically impossible for each team to play a nine-game conference schedule. And the league’s scheduling arrangement with Notre Dame plus some schools rivalry games with instate SEC teams further complicates a move to nine conference games.
But it might not be feasible – for optics in the College Football Playoff era and scheduling concerns – to remain at eight games. The league is considering both an 8+2 model (eight conference games and two nonconference games vs. Power 4 schools or Notre Dame) and a 9+1 model.
“It’d be awfully strange to be the only conference not at nine conference games,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “That’s my thought on that. Usually when you’re the only one doing something, it’s either really good or really bad. It just feels like you would want continuity in what everybody does in college sports.”
Doeren, too, is in favor of a nine-game league schedule. Or more. He pointed to the 2020 COVID-impacted season when ACC teams were scheduled to play 10 conference games.
“I loved that,” he said. “I love playing as many conference games as we can.”
The SEC is getting paid more by ESPN for going to nine games, as much as $5 million per school. The additional conference game should mean more blockbusters. A move to nine games for the ACC doesn’t generate additional must-see games and seems unlikely to open ESPN’s wallet.
Instead, it was marquee nonconference games that propelled the league into the national spotlight on the first full weekend of college football. League members played against Colorado, LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Notre Dame and TCU in the first weekend, pulling in large TV viewership numbers and some important victories.
Clemson (South Carolina), Georgia Tech (Georgia), Florida State (Florida) and Louisville (Kentucky) already have annual in-state rivalry games against teams from the SEC, another wrinkle. Clemson recently signed a 12-team scheduling agreement with Notre Dame, so the Tigers are already at 10 Power 4 games.
“They have a different argument than I do,” Doeren said.
To make the math work at nine games, the league could include games against Notre Dame in the league standings for the ACC team or it could have one team play eight or 10 conference games. In an earlier era, teams played a varying number of conference games. In 1962, ACC teams played five, six or seven conference games.
The world kept spinning.
Under the 8+2 model, ACC teams would need to schedule 34 Power 4 games annually, at a time when the pool of available games is shrinking. One potential solution: More nonconference games between ACC schools, like NC State and Virginia.
The league’s athletics directors are expected to meet later this month to discuss the scheduling issue.
Said Doeren: “There’s two sides to it, and there’s 17 teams that have a stake in how we do this.”