ACC Creates Major Scheduling Mess With Uneven Conference Game Plan For 2026 Football Season

The ACC released its conference schedule for the 2026 football season on Tuesday afternoon, and it's a complete mess.

One of the ancillary effects of the College Football Playoff and the committee's criteria is the increased focus on strength of schedule. Especially the difficulty of playing conference games, where familiarity between opponents and generally higher quality teams than most non-conference games makes for a tougher challenge. 

To try to get more teams into the playoff, and the increased revenue that delivers, the SEC has moved to nine conference games. That matches the Big Ten and Big 12, both of which already play nine. That's going to add another eight losses per year to the SEC schedule, something that will undoubtedly wind up working in its favor once ESPN personalities get involved. 

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Just wait until a four-loss SEC team is arguing to get in over a two-loss Miami Hurricanes team, for example. The ACC is for 2026 is also going to match the other Power 4 conferences with nine conference games. Except the ACC did it in the worst possible way. 

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck. (Photo by Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

ACC Schedule Is A Mess

In a press release announcing the 2026 schedule, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said that moving to nine conference games "strengthens" the league's "competitive framework."

"Today’s announcement of our 2026 football league opponents is another significant and intentional step forward for ACC Football," Phillips said. "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."

Well, it would, if they were actually moving to nine games.

Instead, what's actually happening is that 12 teams will play nine conference games. And five will play eight conference games. To address this imbalance, the 12 playing nine conference games will have at least one Power 4 non-conference opponent. While the other five teams will have to schedule at least two Power 4 non-conference opponents.

So yeah, they're not actually moving to nine, it's only some of the teams moving to nine, while others have eight. 

The 2026 season will be a sort of "bridge" moving forward, where the odd number of teams means one of the 17 football programs will have to play 8+2 each year. But for 2026, this is a mess. Tiebreakers will be a mess. If there are any College Football Playoff contenders in the conference, comparing their schedules to other nine-game members will also be a mess. 

This is one of the side effects of the superconferences. Instead of a level playing field, or as close to one as possible, it's just a complete free for all. There's no consistency to anything and comparing resumes without data is futile. The 2025 playoff selection process was a farce that created debate and controversy, just wait until 2026 rolls around.