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Andrea Edelson
ACC Athletic directors agreed on Monday to attend the Nine-Game Conference program after meetings at Charlett, North Carolina on Monday, who joined the other Power 4 leagues in nine conferences to go to the Games.
As part of the new scheduling model, the league teams will now need to play 10 power 4 games. Most teams will start playing nine conference games plus One Power 4 games in 2026.
Many ACC teams have returned the Nonconference or Neutral Site Nonconference Games for the next season. Florida State But Alabama, Clemson But Agitation, Smu But Beyor, ruler But Illinois, Georgia Tech But Colorado, North Carolina,Ankara In Dublin, Ireland, and Virginia,West Virginia In Charlett.
ACC Commissioner Jim Philips said in a statement that the directors of athletics supported the changes in nine from the “heavy” eight conference games. After SEC decided to attend nine league games last month, there was talk of going into a nine-game conference schedule. SEC and Big 12 also require conference teams to play 10 power 4 games.
Big 12 and Big Ten have already been in nine conference sports.
Philips said in a statement, “We have been incredibly deliberately during our discussion on ACC football, including our conference schedule.” “It presents the ACC as one of the only two leagues, which is committed to every team to play minimum 10 games against Power 4 teams annually. Additional discussion and more details will be more details, but today’s decision shows the commitment and leadership of our advertisements that are best for strengthening the conference and their respective programs.”
The new scheduling model will be presented to faculty athletics representatives for formal adoption later this week.
The ACC has discussed playing nine games for more than a decade, but with its unique schedule partnership Notre Dame And the non -rival rivalry game for the State Florida, LouisvilleClaimson and Georgia Tech always made it difficult to go to nine.
SEC and ACC were the loan holdouts living in eight matches. But once the SEC nine conference went to the Games, the power 4 began to decrease the possibility of holding the eight conference games playing a strong non -schedule schedule against 4 teams. Simply put, it would be difficult to schedule several marques in ACC as in the ACC, as in the past, as it was in the past.
Unlike other power 4 conferences, ACC has 17 league teams, so playing nine conference games is a bit more complicated. According to a source, when the nine-game league schedule is fully implemented when it starts in 2027, 16 teams will play nine league games and one eight conference games and two power 4 non -conference games.
ACC-second rivalry game Florida-Phlorida State, Georgia Tech-GeorgiaClaimson-South Carolina And Louisville-Kentki It is expected to continue. Because those schools already have an annual power 4 nonconference game, they will have decisions to take decisions about their future schedule.
But SEC teams will also have to take similar decisions. For example, Georgia has set a game against Louisville in 2026 and 2027 and against the state of Florida in 2027 and 2028. Florida has already canceled the non -nomination games. Neck state (2026, 2032) and period (2026, 2027).
Notre Dame is also a factor, as the Irish currently plays five ACC games as part of its scheduling agreement with the league. Over the years, those four ACC teams play notre dame, they will have 11 power 4 games. The situation becomes more complicated for Claimson. In May, Claymson and Notre Dame agreed to the 12 -year scheduling agreement, which would pits two college football powers against each other annually through 2038.
