Yesterday the SEC has decided to move to 9 conference games starting in 2026. Because the people who run college football can’t go a week with making more changes to the sport, immediately we had to wonder if the ACC would follow suit….and it turns out the league has had discussions.
However those discussions
don’t mean it will be so easy for Syracuse’s schedule to be adjusted next season.
A move to 9 ACC games would solve Syracuse’s future schedule issues. After next season, the Orange only have two non-conference games on the schedule for 2027 and 2028- Penn State and UConn each year. It’s a bit concerning that Syracuse still needs two games each season and with the B10 and SEC paying more for buy games, it could further limit the options for the Orange.
How could the ACC resolve the schedule issue? I’ll leave the mathing to people who can break down the numbers, but maybe games against Notre Dame get included as “ACC” games even if the Irish maintain their independence. Maybe there is the addition of one more school (at least for football)? Of course by this time next year, the whole damn system might be blown up….
The ACC being the last P4 still playing 8 conference games along with news that the CFP would include a strength of schedule and strength of record metric means the ACC will be a bit more engaged in matching the other leagues. We’ll need to keep watch for news out of Charlotte as to how they plan to do it.
If you’re good at math, maybe you can deliver a schedule paradigm and save us from whatever Jim Phillips is going to cook up.