2026 ACC football schedule by team: Key games, dates as c...

What’s Happening

Listen up: Duke is the reigning ACC champion heading into the fall, but Miami has the best odds from the conference to win the national title 2026 ACC football schedule by team: Key games, dates as conference title game moves to Saturday afternoon Duke is the reigning ACC champion heading into the fall, but Miami has the best odds from the conference to win the national title By Cameron Salerno Jan 26, 2026 at 6:42 pm ET • 5 min read Join the Conversation comments Imagn Images The ACC Championship Game will move from its Saturday night time slot to a noon kickoff for the 2026 college football season.

The move comes after the Big 12, which before occupied the noon time slot, switched its conference title game to Friday night. That change came as part of the ACC’s schedule release on Monday, which laid out every matchup for the 2026 season. (we’re not making this up)

Miami reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history last season and took an L in the national title game to Indiana .

The Details

But, the Hurricanes didn’t play in the ACC title game because of tiebreakers. In a release last month outlining the nine-game conference schedules, a new tiebreaker policy was tucked away.

Twelve members of the ACC will play nine conference games, while the other five will play eight conference games. Instead of Miami — the highest-ranked team in the CFP rankings — playing for the ACC title last season, Duke and Virginia faced off in Charlotte.

Why This Matters

Duke pulled off a thrilling win over Virginia in that title game. But, the selection committee shut the Blue Devils out of an automatic berth because of five losses already on their resume. Week 0 will feature a handful of teams from the ACC facing off.

Sports analysts are already debating what this means for the competition.

Key Takeaways

• NC State faces Virginia on Aug.
• 29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while North Carolina faces TCU in Dublin, Ireland.
• On the same day, Florida State hosts New Mexico State and Stanford faces Hawaii .

The Bottom Line

On the same day, Florida State hosts New Mexico State and Stanford faces Hawaii . While conference championship odds have yet to be dropped, the early 2026 CFP National Championship odds indicate the projected pecking order at the top of the ACC.

How do you feel about this development?