The 2024 ACC/SEC Challenge was an unmitigated disaster for the ACC, which limped to a 2-14 mark in the second year of the challenge. It portended the doom that was to come for the ACC, which had just one of its four teams survive the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, the SEC used its strong challenge results — and a solid overall non-conference performance — as a launching pad for a historic season. The league set a new record by total number of teams and percentage of teams in the NCAA Tournament when it placed 14 of its 16 squads in the Big Dance.
Florida, which throttled Virginia in the ACC/SEC Challenge, went on to win the national title, and the SEC also sent Auburn to the Final Four. Can the ACC gain some redemption this season?
Grading rosters of first-year coaches: Texas’ Sean Miller, Maryland’s Buzz Williams, others build teams
David Cobb
The league is getting a bit of a makeover for the 2025-26 season with Florida State, Virginia, NC State and Miami each hiring new coaches. Louisville, SMU, Stanford and Cal are each entering Year 2 under new coaches.
While the Cardinal and Bears aren’t participating in the 2025-26 ACC/SEC Challenge, the ACC will be hoping the collection of new energy in its coaching ranks can help the conference turn things around. With the matchups for this year’s challenge officially unveiled, we are ranking the games and picking a winner for all 16 of the ACC/SEC Challenge showdowns.
ACC/SEC Challenge schedule, early predictions
…..
