The Atlantic Coast Conference now stretches to the Pacific Ocean, which is perhaps the best illustration of the impact of realignment on the 2024 college football season.
Stanford and Cal – formerly of the Pac-12 – will make their Week 1 debut as ACC schools. SMU – formerly of the American Athletic Conference – played its first game as an ACC football school with a 29-24 victory against Nevada in Week 0.
Florida State and Clemson – the conference's two heavyweights – have pending lawsuits against the conference. Notre Dame still has a five-game arrangement with the ACC.
That is the state of the ACC heading into the 12-team College Football Playoff era. A view of the new-look conference here.
MORE: Predictions for the expanded ACC in 2024
How many teams are in the ACC now?
The ACC will have 17 teams in 2024 with the addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU.
The ACC will not have divisions for the 2024 season. The ACC moved to that format in 2023 with the top two seeds playing in the ACC championship game. Florida State beat Louisville 16-6. The top two seeds will meet at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 7.
The conference has a tie-breaker procedure in place should three or more teams have the same record at the end of the regular season, which is possible with the addition of three more teams in the conference.
ACC teams 2024
A look at the 17 schools in the ACC (in alphabetical order):
| Boston College | NC State |
| Cal | Pitt |
| Clemson | SMU |
| Duke | Stanford |
| Florida State | Syracuse |
| Georgia Tech | Virginia |
| Louisville | Virginia Tech |
| Miami | Wake Forest |
| North Carolina |
Will the ACC have divisions in 2024?
The ACC will not have divisions for the 2024 season. The ACC moved to that format in 2023 with the top two seeds playing in the ACC championship game. Florida State beat Louisville 16-6. The top two seeds will meet at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 7.
The conference has a tie-breaker procedure in place should three or more teams have the same record at the end of the regular season, which is possible with the addition of three more teams in the conference.
Why are Cal, Stanford and SMU in the ACC?
Cal and Stanford joined the ACC on Sept. 1, 2023. The move came after Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah left for the Big 12 and Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington left for the Big Ten. That left just Oregon State and Washington State under the Pac-12 banner heading into the 2024 college football season.
According to the Associated Press, "Both schools felt the move to the ACC was the best financially and to allow the non-revenue Olympic sports to compete at the top level of college athletics."
Cal and Stanford will receive 30% of its share of ACC television revenue for the next seven years as a concession for joining the conference. SMU also joined the conference, with the main concession being taking any conference-generated revenue for nine years. That was a surprise move for a program that played in the WAC, Conference-USA and American Athletic Conference after the Southwest Conference disbanded.
ACC expansion history
Clemson, Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Wake Forest are the original six schools in the ACC – which was founded in 1953. Georgia Tech joined the conference in 1979, and Florida State was a marquee addition in 1991. That eight-school format held until the 21st century.
The ACC has more than doubled its size since. Miami and Virginia Tech joined the conference in 2004, and Boston College followed in 2005.
Notre Dame remains a non-football member with the conference since 2013, and the Irish play five football games each season against ACC schools. In 2024, Notre Dame will play Louisville, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Virginia.
Pitt and Syracuse joined the ACC in 2013, and Louisville followed one year later in 2014. Cal, Stanford and SMU pushed that number to 17 heading into the 2024 season.