Louisville to Play Nine ACC Games in 2026

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Another wrinkle in the Louisville football program's schedule for next year has unfolded.

The Cardinals will indeed play nine ACC games for the 2026 season, UofL athletic director Josh Heird told Louisville Cardinals On SI. Heird also confirmed that one of Louisville's two buy games for that season, Villanova or Charlotte, will have to be scrapped in order to make way for the ninth ACC game - although he did not specify which one.

This past September, the ACC announced that their 17 football-playing members "overwhelmingly supported" moving from the current eight-game conference schedule to a nine-game slate, as well as mandating playing a minimum of 10 power conference games. The nine-game conference schedule would be fully implemented in 2027, but some ACC teams would start playing nine league games in 2026 while some would remain at eight to fulfill previous scheduling obligations.

On Wednesday, Louisville appeared to make a move so that they could be one of the teams to play nine league games in 2026. That morning, it was announced that they had mutually agreed with Georgia to cancel their home-and-home series, which would take place in Louisville for the 2026 season and in Athens in 2027.

But that afternoon, UofL then announced that they had added a neutral-site matchup vs. Ole Miss in Nashville to kick off the 2026 season. By replacing Georgia with Ole Miss, it seemed that Louisville was destined to be one of the teams that only plays eight ACC games in 2026, but makes up for it with two non-conference matchups against power conference teams. Louisville also travels to Lexington to face Kentucky next season.

As far as which one of the two buy games will get axed from Louisville's 2026 schedule, signs point to it being the matchup against Villanova. The Cardinals were previously set to open the 2026 season vs. the Wildcats, who operate at the FCS level, until the game against Ole Miss was scheduled on top of it. Louisville hosts Charlotte on Saturday, Sept. 26.

Unless the ACC decides to completely shake up the conference matchups for next season, Louisville will host Florida State, Pitt, SMU and Stanford; while traveling to Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina and Syracuse. Exact dates for these matchups is expected to be annouced sometime in the next month.

So who will be the ninth ACC team that Louisville will face? Barring additional scheduling moves across the league, process of elimination narrows it down to two possibilities.

With Georgia no longer on the schedule, Louisville now has an open date on the week of Sept. 19, 2026. Of the eight ACC teams not already on UofL's schedule, the two that not only have an open date that weekend, but are in need to schedule one more game to get to 12, are Miami and Wake Forest.

Currently, of the eight ACC teams on Louisville's schedule for 2026, Pitt and Stanford still need to schedule one additional contest - presumably a ninth league game - to get to a full 12-games season.

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