Florida State's 2026 football schedule is set. With matchups against Alabama, Notre Dame, Florida and Central Arkansas, it's among the toughest schedules in the nation.
That's exactly what FSU coach Mike Norvell and athletics director Michael Alford want — tough matchups where the Seminoles' brand is on display in high-profile, big-ratings events.
"I'm a big believer in brand on brand," Alford said. "To grow Florida State, to grow our brand, we need to be playing marquee opponents."
FSU's 31-17 win over Alabama was an upset on the field. And it was an incredible show for network TV, with 10.7 million fans tuning in and peak viewership surpassing 12 million. Those types of non-conference games are tough to book years in advance, but FSU has done so with the neutral-site series vs. LSU in 2022-23 as well as matchups with Alabama (2025-26) and Georgia (2027-28).
"We're going to play an aggressive schedule," Norvell said. "We want those showcase games. One of our out-of-conference games (Florida) is one of the best rivalry games in college football."
All indications are the FSU-Florida series is set for the future, but other major non-conference games are in limbo as the SEC will adopt a nine-game league schedule in 2026. Alford has said it's too early to tell what will happen with the FSU-Georgia series. But the Bulldogs will play Georgia Tech annually and the FSU games could vanish.
Welcome to the challenges of booking an aggressive non-conference schedule.
When athletics directors from around the ACC gather on Monday in Charlotte, N.C., for the league's fall meetings, future football scheduling models will be atop the discussion. With TV ratings now factoring into part of the ACC teams' revenue distribution models, what decisions are made impact the bank accounts of athletics departments like FSU and all of the league's schools for years to come.
How does it work? Some of the details have been previously reported, but here's a quick refresher courtesy of the Associated Press:
"This is the first year with the league distributing 60% of TV revenues based on a rolling five-year viewership formula, with the remaining 40% dispersed equally among schools. Football represents 75% of that viewership payout and men’s basketball 25% as the top revenue-driving sports.
"Additionally, a person with knowledge of the plan told The Associated Press that the current year carries 35% of the value in the five-year formula; the previous four years combine at lower weights for the remaining 65%. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t publicly discussed all model details."
There are multiple proposals on the table, with Alford doing research on the analytics and TV metrics to decide what's best for FSU. The options:
The ACC could adopt a nine-game league schedule, potentially as soon as 2026, and include one non-conference game against a Power 4 opponent. The move would give the league's broadcast partners more inventory (games). But does it add more games that attract big ratings?
There's also the potential of an "8+2 model" where ACC schools would play eight league games plus two more against Power 4 teams, according to ESPN.com. How schools do it is more flexible, and it could include two ACC teams playing a game that's determined as a non-conference matchup (NC State and Virginia did just that earlier in 2025).
The ACC has 17 programs, not counting Notre Dame, and the odd number of teams complicates matters. A proposal has suggested that Notre Dame's five games against ACC teams could begin counting in the league's win-loss standings, although ESPN reports that has been set aside for now.
At meetings like these where athletics directors gather, they will no doubt see presentations from ESPN executives about the options. And of course ESPN has a considerable interest in what the schools decide.
According to ESPN, writers polled 13 of the 17 athletics directors in the league and stated "nine supported or were amenable to the nine-game slate, while Clemson and Florida State are among the others with concerns about the impact on nonconference scheduling."
FSU has played at least 10 Power 5 (now P4) opponents, dating back to the 2021 season. While FSU does play a tougher slate with 10 opponents in the P4, not all schools do. In 2025, Duke is among those that don't (although the Blue Devils lost at Tulane, a tough G6 school).
Clemson AD Graham Neff told ESPN that he's not in favor of a nine-game league schedule.
"The ACC committing to go to 10 Power 4 games is a big step forward," Neff told ESPN.com. "It's indicative of where college football is and leans into emphasizing the importance of strength of schedule and more Power 4 matchups."
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