Syracuse football and its Atlantic Coast Conference peers are expected to have an updated scheduling format in the future, although the final details are still being ironed out, according to ESPN's Andrea Adelson and David Hale.
The likely change is that all conference members will be required to play at least 10 games against power-four foes. However, whether the ACC will have eight or nine conference contests remains to be seen, ESPN reported, citing multiple sources.
The Big Ten Conference and the Big 12 Conference each currently play nine league affairs. The Southeastern Conference will go to nine conference contests beginning with the 2026 season.
To me, it doesn't make sense for the ACC to be the only power-four league with eight conference games, and that sentiment seems to be echoed by some stakeholders within the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"I think it'd be awfully strange to be the only conference not at nine conference games," Duke head coach Manny Diaz told ESPN. "Usually, when you're the only one doing something, it's either really good or really bad. It just feels like you'd want continuity in what everybody does in college sports."
Syracuse football will likely have a refreshed scheduling format in the future.
Per ESPN, athletic directors in the ACC are scheduled to meet on Monday in Charlotte, N.C., to discuss the new scheduling format. The ACC is expected to go to a nine-game conference calendar with one additional power-four affair, or a model with eight league contests and two other power-four games "that will provide more flexibility to schools that already have an annual nonconference rival," Adelson and Hale wrote.
According to ESPN, a "straw poll" of 13 of the ACC's 17 athletic directors in football (Notre Dame is an independent in this sport) revealed "nine supported or were amenable" to the nine-game ACC slate, although schools such as Clemson and Florida State have concerns about how that model would impact the scheduling of non-conference games.
The College Football Playoff selection committee said last month that it will reward teams more for playing high-quality opponents and beating them, while not penalizing squads much when they fall to highly rated foes. That bodes well for the Orange's 2025 schedule, for example.
This season, Syracuse football played (and lost to) Tennessee at a neutral site in the 2025 opener, while the Orange heads to Notre Dame in late November. The 'Cuse also has a daunting road ACC docket: Syracuse football defeated Clemson on Saturday afternoon and will travel to SMU, top-20 Georgia Tech and top-five Miami.