ACC Announces New Football Championship Game Tiebreaker After Miami-Duke Controversy

As the ACC moves to a nine-game conference schedule and in the aftermath of Duke playing in the conference title game last season over Miami, officials have unveiled a new tiebreaker system that will be adopted starting with the 2026 season.

Per the ACC's official statement, the new tiebreaker procedures are built on three main principles including head-to-head results; not being "overly rewarded or penalized" based on the number of conference games played; and the "strongest overall body of work" will be used to determine who plays in the ACC Championship game when head-to-head competition does not separate tied teams.

The ACC announced in December that a modified form of its nine-game conference schedule will take effect in 2026, with the full version put in place for 2027.

As part of the 2026 schedule, 12 of the 17 ACC schools will play nine games within the conference. Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Boston College will only play eight conference games since they already had multiple non-conference games against Power Four opponents scheduled.

Wednesday's release from the ACC notes the new policy is being adopted to reward head-to-head results, while accounting for the alternate number of conference games.

The change also comes after the previous tiebreaker rules nearly cost the ACC a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Virginia won the regular-season conference title with a 7-1 record. There was a five-way tie for second place that resulted in the ACC going through four different tiebreaker procedures before landing on the combined winning percentage of a team's conference opponents since there weren't many common opponents or head-to-head results.

The situation led to Duke playing in the ACC title game ahead of Miami, even though the Hurricanes were ranked No. 12 with a 10-2 record at that point.

Duke wound up beating Virginia in overtime to win the conference, leaving the ACC in a precarious position for the College Football Playoff.

Things wound up working in its favor when Miami leapfrogged Notre Dame to get in the 12-team field as the final at-large entry. The Hurricanes went on to reach the championship game before losing to Indiana.