The Atlantic Coast conference is in the process of switching to a full nine-game conference schedule for the 2027 season, but the 2026 season is described to be a "transition year." 12 of the 17 programs in the ACC will play nine conference games in 2026, and the five teams that already have multiple Power Four opponents on their schedules outside the ACC will play eight. Those schools are Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, North Carolina, and Boston College.
One ACC team will play eight conference games instead of nine each season beginning in 2027, given that the conference has an odd number of schools.
Under the new ACC scheduling plan, every team will be required to play at least 10 games against Power Four opponents, so one out-of-conference Power Four opponent for each team playing nine conference games.
As for the Duke football program, this new slate added a stellar road contest for the Blue Devils, as they will face Miami in the 2026 season. All in-conference opponents have been announced, and Duke is one of the schools that will play nine ACC opponents.
Duke football ACC opponents revealed following new scheduling plan for the conference
Duke football 2026 ACC opponents:
Home: Boston College, Clemson, North Carolina, Stanford
Away: Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, Virginia, Wake Forest
The Blue Devils will face six of the same opponents that they faced through the 2025 regular season, headlined by two stellar matchups against Clemson and Miami.
Changes were set to be coming to the ACC after the chaotic five-way tie for second place in the conference in 2025, in which Duke ultimately won with a 7-5 overall record and a 6-2 record in conference play. With 17 teams in the ACC and schools playing just eight conference games, it made the tiebreaker process very tricky, as finding common opponents was difficult with teams playing less than half of the entire conference.
Duke only faced one of the other four programs that were tied with it at 6-2 in ACC play at the end of the regular season, and that was Georgia Tech.
This is the fourth different scheduling format for the ACC in the past four seasons.