What New ACC Tiebreak Policy Means for UNC Football

The ACC adopted a change that will have a dramatic impact on the 2026 season.

Sep 6, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; A view of the ACC logo on an end zone pylon during the game between the SMU Mustangs and the Baylor Bears at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The North Carolina Tar Heels were nowhere near competing for the ACC Championship last season, earning a 13th-place finish after compiling a 4-8 record.

The end of the 2025 regular season in the ACC was a bit of a mess, with a five-way tie for second place, resulting in Duke earning a spot in the ACC Championship game over several programs, including Miami, which was ranked significantly higher than the Blue Devils.

This prompted the conference committee to adopt a change that would implement a deciphering tiebreaker. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips explained the ruling that would ensure that the two best teams in the conference would feature in the conference championship game at the end of the regular season.

Phillips' Thoughts

• "You have to do everything you can to position your championship game with those two best teams," Phillips said. "Head-to-head matters. That's always most important. Then we will look at the grouping and how teams fared. It will come down to body of work. I'm looking forward to that."

• "It warranted that kind of time and commitment, so that we can position ourselves to put those two best ACC teams forward," Phillips continued. "We'll continue to watch how this thing goes. But I feel incredibly strong that we have gotten to the right place with unanimity from our membership on what this new tie-breaking policy states."

What This Means for North Carolina

Oct 30, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; A detail view of a North Carolina Tar Heels football helmet during warmups before the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

Obviously, the Tar Heels need to vastly improve if they even want to be included in this conversation. Odds are North Carolina will not be one of the two best teams in the conference, and this season needs to be about taking the necessary steps to establish itself as a formidable competitor in the ACC.

It is an uphill battle for the Tar Heels, as their starting quarterback situation is in limbo, with Billy Edwards Jr., Miles O'Neill, and Travis Burgess battling for the spot in training camp. Additionally, with Bill Belichick as head coach, North Carolina did little to instill confidence in its fans that, under the 74-year-old head coach, the program's future holds any value, at least in the short term.

That being said, this ruling provides clarity for the entire conference and how the top two spots in the ACC will be finalized. The Tar Heels want to compete for the ACC and play meaningful games in the latter stretches of the regular season, but they first need to prove that they are even remotely capable of competing with the middle-tier teams in the conference before juxtaposing themselves with the elite teams in the ACC.