​ACC commissioner Jim Phillips announced the conference’s tiebreaker policy for the league’s football championship game this season.Speaking at ACC kickoff on July 15 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Phillips said the championship game’s tiebreaker procedure is built on three principles:AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement(1) Head-to-head results.(2) No team will be overly rewarded or penalized based on the number of conference games it played.(3) When head-to-head competition cannot separate tied teams, the team with the strongest overall body of work will earn the opportunity to compete for the ACC championship.”Our game (will) feature the two most deserving teams,” Phillips said.Phillips said when head-to-head results can’t separate teams, the ACC will use the team success-rating metric from SportSource Analytics to determine which two teams will compete in title game.1 / 35Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris speaks with media during Clemson football media day at the Allen N. Reeves football complex in Clemson, S.C. Tuesday, July 14, 2026.(Ken Ruinard / USA Today Network South Carolina)The ACC title game is Dec. 5 (noon ET, ABC) at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The winner will earn an automatic bid to the CFP this season.”Who you play, when you play, the games that you win, nonconference as well as conference, will matter, and that’s a change,” Phillips said.The ACC made the change to “reward” head-to-head results, adjust to teams playing an alternate number of conference games and identify “the two most deserving teams” to compete for the ACC championship.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPhillips said the change was approved following a comprehensive review by the ACC’s athletic directors and over 10,000 simulated season “to ensure the model fairly addressed a wide range of championship scenarios.”The conference was in jeopardy of not having a team make the CFP last season. Unranked Duke (8-5, 6-2 ACC) beat No. 17 Virginia (10-2, 7-1) in the title game in 2025, but the Blue Devils didn’t make the CFP because they weren’t among the five highest-ranked conference winners.MORE: What Dabo Swinney said new NCAA eligibility rules will change for Clemson footballThe ACC’s top-ranked team, No. 12 Miami (10-2, 6-2), missed the championship game despite being ranked higher than both teams. The Hurricanes ended up earning a CFP at-large bid after much debate, but the ACC is ensuring that the league isn’t in a similar position moving forward.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTwelve ACC teams will also play nine conference opponents in 2026, while five will participate in eight, including Clemson football.The conference said these teams will play eight conference games “due to contractual obligations and scheduling balance.”Here is the entire 2026 Clemson football schedule.Sept. 5: at LSU (7:30 p.m., ABC)Sept. 12: vs. Georgia Southern (7:30 p.m., ACC Network)Sept. 19: vs. North Carolina (noon, ESPN)Sept. 25: at Ca