Following the addition of three new teams from the 2024 college football season, the Atlantic Coast Conference has announced a new scheduling model that will last for the next seven seasons. Who will the 17 teams face in conference play in the 2026 college football season?
The ACC football schedule release holds all the answers.
2026 ACC Football Schedule Release
The ACC schedule release details the format that the conference will take for scheduling purposes from the 2024 season. The conference will play on a seven-year cycle, and the new format replaces the four-year 3-5-5 structure that had originally been put into place from the beginning of the 2023 season. That was made redundant by adding Stanford, SMU, and Cal.
The new ACC schedule release does, however, contain some holdovers from the previous model. The conference will remain division-less after discarding the Atlantic and Coastal divisions at the beginning of the 2023 campaign. Putting 17 teams into two divisions just doesn’t go, after all.
The conference championship will be decided by the two teams with the best ACC record at the end of the regular season.
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Furthermore, the ACC schedule release confirms an early October report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch that it will remain an eight-game in-conference schedule. The Big Ten expanded to a nine-game conference schedule when adding Washington, UCLA, USC, and Oregon, but the ACC will not follow suit — at least not in the 2024-2030 seven-season rotation.
Much has been made about the conference adding three West Coast teams to the ACC for the 2024 campaign onwards, with cross-country travel adding strain to student-athletes already tasked with the enormous workload.
To mitigate this, the ACC schedule release ensures that each of the 14 current schools will play in California no more than three times in seven seasons.
Finally, the ACC Schedule release confirmed that the new model with protect 16 annual matchups, 11 of which were confirmed under the previous 3-5-5 model.
For every ACC season release through 2030, find them here: 2024 | 2025 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030
ACC Schedule for 2026
Boston College Eagles
- FSU
- Pitt
- Syracuse
- Virginia Tech
- at Duke
- at Georgia Tech
- at Miami
- at SMU
Cal Golden Bears
- Clemson
- Stanford
- Virginia Tech
- Wake Forest
- at NC State
- at SMU
- at Syracuse
- at Virginia
Clemson Tigers
- Georgia Tech
- Miami
- North Carolina
- Virginia Tech
- at Cal
- at Duke
- at FSU
- at Syracuse
Duke Blue Devils
- Boston College
- Clemson
- North Carolina
- Stanford
- at Georgia Tech
- at NC State
- at Virginia
- at Wake Forest
Florida State Seminoles
- Clemson
- NC State
- SMU
- Virginia
- at Boston College
- at Louisville
- at Miami
- at Pitt
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
- Boston College
- Duke
- Louisville
- Wake Forest
- at Clemson
- at Pitt
- at Stanford
- at Virginia Tech
Louisville Cardinals
- FSU
- Pitt
- SMU
- Stanford
- at Georgia Tech
- at North Carolina
- at NC State
- at Syracuse
Miami Hurricanes
- Boston College
- FSU
- Pitt
- Virginia Tech
- at Clemson
- at North Carolina
- at Stanford
- at Wake Forest
NC State Wolfpack
- Cal
- Duke
- Louisville
- Wake Forest
- at FSU
- at North Carolina
- at Stanford
- at Virginia Tech
North Carolina Tar Heels
- Louisville
- Miami
- NC State
- Syracuse
- at Clemson
- at Duke
- at Pitt
- at Virginia
Pittsburgh Panthers
- FSU
- Georgia Tech
- North Carolina
- Syracuse
- at Boston College
- at Louisville
- at Miami
- at Virginia Tech
SMU Mustangs
- Boston College
- Cal
- Virginia
- Wake Forest
- at FSU
- at Louisville
- at Stanford
- at Syracuse
Stanford Cardinal
- Georgia Tech
- Miami
- NC State
- SMU
- at Cal
- at Duke
- at Louisville
- at Wake Forest
Syracuse Orange
- Cal
- Clemson
- Louisville
- SMU
- at Boston College
- at North Carolina
- at Pitt
- at Virginia
Virginia Cavaliers
- Cal
- Duke
- North Carolina
- Syracuse
- at FSU
- at SMU
- at Virginia Tech
- at Wake Forest
Virginia Tech Hokies
- Georgia Tech
- NC State
- Pitt
- Virginia
- at Boston College
- at Cal
- at Clemson
- at Miami
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
- Duke
- Miami
- Stanford
- Virginia
- at Cal
- at Georgia Tech
- at NC State
- at SMU