On Monday, the ACC released that it will be going with a new scheduling model for its football.
"We have been incredibly intentional throughout our discussions on ACC football, including the future of our conference schedule," ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in the official statement. "Today, the athletic directors of the 17 football-playing institutions overwhelmingly supported a regular season schedule that includes nine conference games and a minimum of 10 games each year against Power 4 Opponents."
With the release, ESPN's Andrea Adelson said that the new scheduling model will be implemented in the 2027 season. 16 teams will play a 9+1 schedule and one will have to play an 8+2 schedule.
As expected, the ACC is moving to nine conference games. According to a source, this will be fully implemented in 2027 with 16 league teams playing a 9+1 model, and one playing an 8+2. https://t.co/Iz8W7NN7iM
— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) September 22, 2025
In the case of Virginia Tech, this will likely work out well. They have yet to replace a lot of future dates that they cancelled against Old Dominion, so that is where an extra ACC game will be able to go.
From 2027-2037, the Hokies already have two Power Four non-conference opponents, including Notre Dame, scheduled in nine of the 11 total seasons
Source tells me: Some ACC teams will play 9 league games next year, while multiple others will play 8 due to already scheduled games. All will play at least 10 P4 games.
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) September 22, 2025
In 2027, 16 will play 9 league games, 1 will play 8 league games. All will play at least 10 P4 games.
It does appear that some ACC teams will be playing a nine game schedule next year, with others playing an eight game schedule due to previously scheduled games. The Hokies have four non-conference games scheduled, but could end up with a nine-game conference schedule in the end due to only having one P4 non-conference opponent.
VT will need to cancel their game against either VMI, JMU, or ODU for next season so they can meet the 10 P4 opponent requirement, with it being unknown which game will be canceled. That game will either be replaced by an ACC opponent or a P4 non-conference opponent, with it being much more likely to be an ACC game.
We will have more as this story develops.
