ACC, Pac-12 Reportedly Moving to Conference Only Schedules

Editor’s note: The Pac-12 officially announced it would move to a conference only schedule on Friday, July 10.

Following in the footsteps of the Big 10, the ACC and Pac-12 Conference are also reportedly moving to conference only schedules.

Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reported both the Big Ten and Pac-12 news but also cautioned that the ACC move is “premature”. However, both Brett McMurphy of Stadium and Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports both reported the ACC will move to a conference only schedule.

The Big Ten announced earlier on Thursday its intention to play a 10 game conference only schedule. No details have yet been provided on the length of the ACC or Pac-12 schedules given the lack of an official announcement from the conferences.

The move by the ACC and Pac-12 cancels 21 games versus FCS opposition. All 21 games are listed below and includes the highly anticipated matchup featuring North Dakota State and Oregon.

Update 8/6/2020: The ACC went to a 10 + 1 scheduling format consisting of 10 conference games and 1 non-conference game. Only two FCS versus ACC games survived: Samford at Florida State and VMI at Virginia, both on September 12. Originally, 23 games involving FCS teams were canceled by the ACC and Pac-12 but now it is only 21 with the latest news.

Date	FCS Team	Home Team
9/3	Northern Arizona	Arizona State
9/5	Portland State	Arizona
9/5	William & Mary	Stanford
9/5	North Dakota State	Oregon
9/12	Elon	Duke
9/12	Samford	Florida State
9/12	Garnder-Webb	Georgia Tech
9/12	Wagner	Miami (FL)
9/12	VMI	Virginia
9/12	Montana State	Utah
9/12	Cal Poly	California
9/12	Sacramento State	Washington
9/19	Portland State	Oregon State
9/19	Idaho	Washington State
9/19	Murray State	Louisville
9/19	James Madison	North Carolina
9/19	Richmond	Pittsburgh
9/19	Colgate	Syracuse
9/19	Villanova	Wake Forest
9/26	North Alabama	Virginia Tech
9/26	Delaware	North Carolina State
10/31	Holy Cross	Boston College
11/14	The Citadel	Clemson

The FCS schools rely heavily upon contract games to fund their athletic department. How the loss of revenue for the 2020 season (if not contractually guaranteed in the event of a pandemic) remains to be seen though it will undoubtedly present a tough road ahead for some FCS members.

A total of 106 games featuring FCS teams have been impacted by the ongoing pandemic. 101 of the 106 games impacted have been cancellations.

Photo courtesy of North Dakota State University Athletics.