As part of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Miami will play eight conference games in 2017 and four non-conference games. The ACC and the SEC are the only Power Five Conferences to play eight conference games. The Big Ten, Big XII and Pac-12 all play nine games against conference opponents.
The Big Ten instituted a policy that began this past season that they will no longer schedule games against FCS opponents and that one of their non-conference games must be against a team from one of the other Power Five Conferences.
ESPN writer David Hale reported in October that “After some serious debate about moving to a nine-game conference football schedule, ACC athletic directors voted Wednesday to maintain the status quo.