ACC athletic directors are meeting in Chapel Hill, N.C., this week, and among the issues discussed so far is the league’s scheduling format for football. On Wednesday, the ADs voted to uphold the model already set to go in place next season — each team will play eight ACC games and be required to schedule at least one Power 5 nonconference opponent per year.
Games against Notre Dame will count toward fulfilling the nonconference requirement.
The other options were a nine-plus-one format (nine ACC games, one Power 5 nonconference foe) and an eight-plus-two model (eight ACC games, two Power 5 nonconference foes).
Discussions on altering the format heated up over the summer when the league and its TV partner, ESPN, announced that an ACC Network linear channel will launch in 2019. According to the Daily Press, ESPN preferred that the conference adopt either the nine-plus-one or eight-plus-two model, but it was not a requirement.
At the ACC Football Kickoff in July, the league announced that it will expand the conference basketball schedule from 18 games to 20 starting with the 2019-20 season.