The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced on Wednesday its new football tiebreaking procedures for the 2026 ACC Championship Game. The season marks the first for the conference with a nine-game conference football schedule.
Per the ACC release, the new tiebreaking procedure is “built on three guiding principles”:
- Head-to-head results will always matter most.
- No team will be overly rewarded or penalized based on the number of conference games it played.
- When head-to-head competition cannot separate tied teams, the team with the strongest overall body of work will earn the opportunity to compete for the ACC Championship and the conference’s automatic qualifier to the College Football Playoff.
The updated championship tiebreaker policy was developed to reward head-to-head results, account for the league’s teams playing an alternate number of conference games, while also identifying the two most deserving teams to compete for the ACC Football Championship and the conference’s automatic berth into the College Football Playoff.
Determining the Top Two Teams for the ACC Championship Game
The ACC Champion is decided by a single game between the top two teams:
- The two teams with the highest conference winning percentage from regular-season play.
- Teams that played an alternate number of conference games are included if they have the same number of wins or the same number of losses as the team(s) with the highest winning percentage.
- Only postseason-eligible teams can qualify as top two. Games against ineligible teams still count in standings and tiebreakers.
If there is a tie for the highest winning percentage (3+ teams) or for the second-highest winning percentage (2+ teams), the tiebreaker procedure below is used.
ACC Football Tiebreaker Procedure
Step 1: Define the Tied Teams
- Identify team(s) with the best Conference win percentage.
- Add any team(s) that played an alternate number of games and match the wins or losses of the above team(s).
- No other teams are included.
Step 2: Break the Ties
Two-Team Tie
- Head-to-head: The team that defeated the other in conference play advances.
- Team Success Ranking (SSR): Better ranking by SportSource Analytics (after all regular-season games).
- Draw: Commissioner (or designee) conducts a draw.
Three (or More) Team Tie
A. If all Tied Teams are common opponents (everyone played each other):
- Best record among the Tied Teams.
- Best Team Success Ranking (SSR).
- Draw by Commissioner.
If still tied after any step, restart the entire tiebreaker (including re-defining tied teams).
B. If the Tied Teams are not all common opponents:
- The team that defeated every other Tied Team advances to the Championship Game and is removed from the tie.
- The team that lost to every other Tied Team is eliminated.
(Then restart the tiebreaker on remaining teams if needed.) - Best Team Success Ranking (SSR) → advances and is removed.
- Draw by Commissioner.
Restart the process (including re-defining tied teams) as needed until the Top Two are determined.
The policy emphasizes using win percentage as the primary criterion, with SportSource Analytics rankings as a consistent secondary metric and random draw only as a last resort. All tiebreakers are applied after the full regular season concludes.
Beginning with the 2026 season, the ACC will play a nine-game conference football schedule. Due to previously scheduled non-conference games, only 12 members will play nine league games while the remaining five schools will play eight.
The 2026 schedule format is serving as a “bridge” or “transition” as the conference moves toward fully implementing a nine-game league schedule in 2027. Beginning in 2027, 16 teams will play a nine-game ACC schedule annually, with one team each season playing eight league games due to the odd number of conference members (17).
The 2026 ACC Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. The game will be televised by ABC at 12:00pm ET.