ACC Cuts Football Schedules, SEC Moves Closer to Conference-Only

The Pac-12 and Big Ten have already announced plans to shift their 2020 football seasons to conference-only in recent weeks, and two more Power Five conferences are also heading that direction.

On Wednesday, the ACC announced its plan to have teams play only one nonconference game that is either at home or in-state. ACC teams will also play 10 conference games, and Notre Dame will be added to the conference and be eligible to compete for an ACC championship this season.

Games involving ACC teams can begin the week of Sept. 7-12, originally scheduled to be Week 2 of the college football season. Teams will have two open dates. The ACC Championship game will be played either Dec. 12 or Dec. 19 between the two teams with the best conference winning percentage.

It’s unclear at this time which nonconference games including ACC teams will still take place, but with the caveat that those games must be played at the ACC school or in that school’s state already cuts off a good chunk of games.

Based on ACC’s nonconference requirement (must be in held school’s home state), these games can not be played:

Virginia vs. Georgia, UNC vs. Auburn & FSU vs. West Virginia (all in Atlanta)
Notre Dame at Navy
UNC at UCF
Va Tech at MTSU
Pitt at Marshall
Wake Forest at ODU
BC at KU

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 29, 2020

Meanwhile, the SEC could drop all nonconference games. According to Sports Illustrated, the SEC is moving closer to a 10-game conference-only football schedule. During a virtual meeting Wednesday, a majority of SEC athletic directors approved the idea, but it must still be ratified by league presidents, according to SI.

So what does this do to the Big 12 and Oklahoma State?

The Big 12’s presidents will be presented with multiple scheduling models to consider on Monday, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich.

OSU still has two nonconference games scheduled as of now: Tulsa on Sept. 12 and Western Illinois on Sept. 19. If the Cowboys played those two and their nine conference games, they too would be at the 11-game mark like ACC squads.

Big 12 power Oklahoma has already announced that it would move up its scheduled nonconference game against Missouri State to Aug. 29 to allow scheduling flexibility during the pandemic.