ACC Championship Game announces kickoff time for 2026 in new TV window
By David Wasson
Published:
The ACC Championship Game proved indirectly consequential to the College Football Playoff outcome in 2025, as 5-loss Duke downing Virginia helped trigger Miami into a controversial at-large berth and ride it all the way to the championship game.
That same ACC title game will receive a new television window next season, as the conference announced Monday that the 2026 game will kick off at noon ET from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
The shift to a noon ET kickoff moves the championship game from its traditional Saturday night window for the first time since 2020, when the game kicked off at 4 pm ET. The title game also kicked off at 1 p.m. ET in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The Duke-Virginia game was played at 8 pm ET in 2025, adding the final bit of chaos to the final week of college football before the 12-team CFP field was settled. The Blue Devils, who earned an ACC title game bid due to a bizarre series of tiebreaker scenarios, upset No. 17 Virginia 27-20 in overtime – opening up the possibility for the Hurricanes to move into an at-large bid because Duke (8-5) wasn’t even ranked in the Top 25.
Miami ended up receiving the ACC’s only CFP bid and then went on to win games against Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss to make it to the CFP national championship game – where the Hurricanes lost 27-21 to Indiana.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
