The Atlantic Coast Conference is making a change to its football tiebreaker rules following the 2025 season, in which Duke went to the title game.
The 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference football season was an interesting one. While the Miami Hurricanes were clearly the best team in the conference, finishing as the runner-up in the College Football Playoff, they didn't earn a spot in the conference title game.
Instead, it was the Duke Blue Devils who bested the Virginia Cavaliers in overtime to win the conference title. Duke got there virtue a tiebreaker and they shouldn't apologize to anyone for that.
It's not Duke's fault that the tiebreakers were and they just followed the rules. But now, things appear to be changing.
As the conference descends on Charlotte this week for the annual kickoff, we are going to get a lot of news regarding the conference, teams, and players. Already, one of the biggest changes has been announced.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips announced on Wednesday that the league is adjusting its tiebreaker. They will continue to use head-to-head as the No. 1 tiebreaker but will move to team success rankings provided by SportsSource Analytics.
Here is what ESPN wrote on the situation:
A change was also needed because the league is shifting to a new nine-game conference schedule this year. Because of previously scheduled nonconference games, 12 teams will play nine ACC games and five will play eight conference games in 2026. Moving forward, one team will play eight conference games to address the ACC having 17 teams.
The No. 1 tiebreaker remains head-to-head. The ACC said no team will be "overly rewarded or penalized" based on the number of conference games it plays. When head-to-head matchups cannot separate tied teams, the ACC will use the Team Success Ranking provided by SportSource Analytics as a way to reward the team with the strongest body of work.
Last season, Duke reached the conference title game due to the fifth tiebreaker which was conference opponent win percentage. The new method is set in place so that it doesn't have to go that far and gives the teams a more 'fair' chance.
But let's be real, they aren't going to come out and say it, but this certainly is because of what happened last season.
Phillips also noted that it's important for the conference to have the top two teams in the conference title game for the College Football Playoff rankings.
