ACC to Remain at Eight Game Conference Schedule

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ACC football teams will continue to play 8 conference games.

If this seems very similar to the SEC's new scheduling policy, that's because it is.

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I don't like it but won't be too upset until we hear how the scheduling rotation will work. If it stays as currently constructed, major negative for VT fans.

that's very patient and mature of you to wait and see...kudos

personally, i'm just assuming status quo across the board, division lineups and schedules included. i hope i'm wrong!

I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.

I say we riot.

Rabble

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Fosterball

I am a little disappointed but after the SEC (ESPN role model) selected 8 games and the coaches also voted for 8 did anybody expect them to vote for 9?

http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA2LzEyLzY2L0phY2tOaWNob2xzLjIxZTBhLmdpZgpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/a7087029/e2b/Jack-Nicholson.gif

Hokies have done a great job of scheduling outside the conference.

Not seeing this as a big deal really. Will be good to see how we
match up with the B10 and hopefully Tenn will want to schedule us
more after the Battle at Bristol.

GO HOKIES!

Because f-k ecu, that's why! Thanks a f-king lot Weaver! Another mess Whit has to clean up after him.

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Fosterball

Every week cant be a marquee matchup.
This past season we hardly had any.

Moving forward - ECU can be a game we can look to pad our win total-
unless they start to improve then it could be a decent match-up.
In the long run, beating a mediocre ECU is better than losing to a good ACC team.
Ideally, beating a good ACC is what we want, but ECU isn't exactly Austin Peay or Coastal Carolina.

GO HOKIES!

You must be new here.

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Fosterball

not at all

GO HOKIES!

Yeah you kinda are. You're TKP birthdate indicates 5/10/14. So yes. You're still
Baby
Not meaning to be rude or anything.

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Fosterball

not rude , just naive.

GO HOKIES!

Oh you got 2 profiles!? Damn talk about dedication.

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Plot twist: same person.

In the long run, beating a mediocre ECU is better than losing to a good ACC team.
Ideally, beating a good ACC is what we want, but ECU isn't exactly Austin Peay or Coastal Carolina.

One could argue that from a risk/reward perspective, a good ACC team, or equivalent level BCS team is a better match up than ECU. Consider the following:

VT has an 85% chance of beating ECU. VT will move up 1 spot in the rankings with a win. VT will move down 5 spots with a loss.
VT has a 60% chance of beating UNC. VT will move up 3 spots in the rankings with a win. VT will move down 2 spot with a loss.

Chart

UNC is the better match up choice. Obviously the numbers I used are very ambiguous, may/may not be true, and their are many other factors (how will other teams do? What will the voters think? Can we go injury free? Etc).

Personally, I am of the belief that playing a better schedule

  • Gets us more exposure = better recruits
  • Gets us practice in hostile environments under pressure - which lets our players/coaches get use to playing in big moments. Each big moment is a little easier than the previous.

It worked for Pete Carroll, right?

So when I read this all I could think is 'you mean we aren't playing ECU every year!?' and then I was like
a

Such tackle. Very D-Line. Wow.

If this opens up ACC vs SEC games in the future, i would be all about it. UGA vs GT, UF vs FSU, USC vs Clemsom are already playing eachother. Maybe there will be talk about playing more x conference games between our two specific conferences.

I could see a mix of SEC and B1G schools in there...

No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

Really chicken shit way to do it, can only hope there is further clarification in terms of the removal of designated rivals. That would help a bit. Can only hope this vote was just about the # of conference games and not the make up of those 8 games.

Whatever. They tried and they tried, but in the end .... once the sun went down, and the lights went up ... a team from Blacksburg won the National Championship twice. And everyone marveled. They wondered how something could come to pass so quickly, so unexpectedly. And a small child said, "Because Sam Rogers."

Fortune Favors the Bold

Holy shit! Is that Asa Akira? My wife thinks she looks kinda like a dude.

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Dude, with all these gifs, I think you might have a pr0n addiction...

No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

Uh wtf is a pr0n addiction? Never heard if that.

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hahaha when I read papigee's comment I thought to myself, "no, that would be hokieknight."

"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

Haha, I totally just googled "brazzers gifs" so I can get in on the innocent "adult actresses" gifs fun...needless to say, they were NSFW

"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

You know what? Fine. Don't care. If this makes it easier for us to go undefeated every year and get into and win the ACC title, I'm all for it.

The ones who should be pissed off the most are FSU and Clemson. Their division is stacked and while they're in a yearly round robin with Louisville, the Coastal is most likely going to be an absolute joke with maybe VT as a contender, Miami perennially struggling, UNC failing to make the grade, and UVa being the stinking pile of shit they are. Chances are, very soon we're going to be waltzing back into the title game all the time while they're in an annual dogfight just to win the division. We may not like the fact that it doesn't get us the pretty games that we want, but this is going to work out to our benefit going forward.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

Their division is stacked and while they're in a yearly round robin with Louisville,

2012-2014 Louisville reminds me of a 2005-2008 Boston College. They're hot now, but they had a 1st round QB and a great coach that moved on to greener pastures. Of course, Petrino is much better replacement than Spaziano, so maybe UL won't drop off the planet like BC did, but I doubt they stay top 15 relevant.

Football is cyclical. It wasn't but 3 years ago that the Coastal was considered the Top-Heavy division until FSU found it's groove and Clemson hired Chad Morris.

🦃 🦃 🦃

I dislike BC so much, I replaced them in the conference with Florida in NCAA. I also got rid of the BCS Bowl tie-in, to make things more interesting.

VT '10--US Citizen; (804) Virginian By Birth; (979) Texan By the Grace of God.

Rick Monday... You Made a Great Play...

I also root for: The Keydets, Army, TexAggies, NY Giants, NY Rangers, ATL Braves, and SA Brahmas

For some perspective, consider this: Under the current schedule, UVA won't play in an ACC championship game...ever.

Not the bagman VT deserves, but the bagman VT needs right now.

So what's the difference?

No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

Best picture ever. Daniel L. Crandall. "The caring personal injury attorney."

Brandon J. Carroll
Class of 2010

Swofford must think that Miami is BAK.

Are SEC schools making a big fuss of this type of schedule? Are UGA and UF fans upset about not playing Alabama, Auburn or LSU often? Or is it just ACC fans?

Here's an idea, if you want to play Clemson or FSU, WIN YOUR DIVISION.

🦃 🦃 🦃

UGA plays Auburn every year, Florida plays LSU every year. But as far as not playing some of the other schools, yes, there is a bit of grumbling. By UGA anyway.

No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

Next year, Florida's crossovers are Alabama and LSU

That would be like VT getting Clemson and Florida State from the Atlantic in the same season.

I would say that UF fans would be pretty upset if they had to play Duke, BC, North Carolina, Pitt, GT, Miami, UVA and ECU every year instead of South Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, Vandy, Kentucky, and Florida State.

The coastal division schedule for VT just leaves so much to be desired - and we are stuck with it every year!
This has nothing to do with the ACC, but the ECU series just has to end. VT already has Duke and UNC, so ECU adds nothing for recruiting.

Let me guess...you wanted VT to join the SEC?

Not so much wanting to join the SEC, but wanting something different from the ACC.

Other than the initial excitement of joining and winning the league in 2004, I feel like the ACC has been a big part of the general malaise surrounding the fan-base in recent years.

We haven't established any sense of rivalry with our new league members. UVA/VT and VT/Miami was always there - so nothing has changed on that front.

Our games with our coastal league members bring nothing to the table on a national interest level - less opportunity for prime time in Blacksburg.

I often find myself questioning whether I'd rather stay home and mow the lawn than travel to Blacksburg to watch us play Duke, UNC, BC, and Georgia Tech again.

The ACC schedule has become so dull and routine that they rarely even change the time of year we play our coastal games.

I want the day the schedule is released in April to be exciting again. Just having Clemson, Florida State, NC State and Syracuse come to Blacksburg every few years would help wake up some of my old fandom.

I think of the Techno Bowl as a pretty good ACC Coastal rivalry, and even though they're not "regularly occuring," our games with FSU and Clemson since we've joined the conference have been pretty good. Since joining the conference we've faced FSU 4 times in the regular season and twice in the ACCCG, Clemson 4 times in the regular season and once i the ACCCG; played one of them in either the regular season or ACCCG every year except for 2009 and 2013; and would have faced one of them in the ACCCG those years had we won at least one more game in the regular season those years. (GT in '09 & Duke in '13)

While I don't think the current wait between cross division opponents is optimal, VT has had ample opportunities to play great cross divisional matchups in the ACC. We can continue to do so, even with the crappy scheduling now in place, simply by winning our division.

very true, but i think many of our complaints are more about the lack of opportunity to host these teams at Lane or even to go visit them at their house.

I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.

But what about the regular season?
It's fun to go to the ball game but the regular season is 1/2 ECU and Western NC and Marshall. The other 3 are Duke, BC, Wake, NC, NCState or GT. That's what I get for my season tickets.
Last time Miami was here was 3 years ago.
So, am I doomed to buy season tickets every year so I can watch Miami at home once every few years?
If ya wanna sell season tickets, ya better put good games at home.
Otherwise, it's fun to grill out back some steaks and drink beer with a few while the game is on the radio and buy a seat once or twice every 2 years.

This is going to be great for the ACC.

It would be a similar form of drudgery in any other conference. The huge number of teams in a conference, the diluted value of the teams, this is the new normal. The ACC was never anything in football, other than F$U. It's the glass of tepid water you use to wash down your pills each morning.

By adding a another conference game you simply go from a 28% chance to a 33% of adding Fla St or Clemson on the schedule and from a 57% chance to a 66% chance of WF, NCSt, Louisville, or Syr. Big deal...

Would you rather have that or have the flexibility of a 100% chance of having a Tennessee, Wisconsin, Michigan, WVU, Penn St, Purdue (ok, maybe not a big deal, but no worse than WF, NCSt or Syr), and others to be announced on the schedule?

Everything is thinking of this thing in a static vacuum. IMO, the 8 game schedule + 1 Power 5 OOC game by the ACC & SEC is just another prelude to the Power 5 (or Power 4) separating from everyone else and playing schedules of nothing but power 5 teams. It may take another 10 years because ND and Texas are still holding everyone hostage, but I think it'll probably end being something like 9 or 10 conference games and 2 or 3 OOC games with everyone playing by the same scheduling rules.

to get a VT persepctive of the SEC, i think you have to look at a newer member like Mizzou. their annual schedule is:

Arkansas
Vandy
Kentucky
Tennessee
USC-e
Georgia
Florida

that looks fine, but when you consider they won't play regional SEC schools like LSU, aTm, and the 2 MS schools more than twice every 12 years, it's no better than our situation.

"hey Mizzou, welcome to the SEC, don't expect to host Alabama, LSU, aTm or Auburn very often..." is no different than us not hosting Clemson, FSU, L'ville or NCSU very often.

Alabama will only play Georgia, Florida and USC-e twice each every 12 years. aTm will only see Florida, Georgia and Tennessee twice each every 12 years...

i'm not saying it's ok, i'm just saying the SEC has the same problem we have.

I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.

8 game schedule is fine, but...

I still dream of no divisions!

Every team gets one rival they play every year (ours would be UVA).

The rest of the schedule is completely random, but would shuffle so that your team would play every other ACC team at home at least once over a 4 or 5 year period.

Yeah, I don't know why it's not like this.

This is going to be great for the ACC.

Because the NCAA prevents it.

Why? I don't know.

this requires an NCAA rule change, but many think that is coming. that said, you can actually have 3 permanent rivals for all 14 teams and still play everyone home and home in 4 years with an 8 game schedule. your 3 + 5/10 in years 1 & 2, your 3 plus the other 5/10 in years 3 & 4.

many have mentioned wanting this, but many have also said the ACC won't do it.

I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.

I wish we could get rid of "crossover rivals" and we didn't have to play Boston College every year. That would give us 2 rotating games against Atlantic Division opponents. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen because the ACC has to have FSU play Miami every year.

Then switch FSU and Pitt

Obviously BYU is a better program than many "Power 5" schools in every conference. They are a casualty of expansion.

ouch...seems like the wrong call unless there is collusion among the big 5 against scheduling independents (not named ND)

I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.

Pretty sure you just nailed it on the head. The Power 5 decided that all independents (except the darling Notre Dame) are not equivalent. Then again, how often does Notre Dame schedule against the SEC? They might also be included in that ruling.

they should holler at the big12/10

"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

Thinking outside the scheduling box a little here...(it's long, so i put the summary first)

Summary:
What ND gets:
1. Full membership/ACCCG access while only adding 1 committed football game annually to the conference schedule
2. Full rev share for football with everyone else (including orange bowl/playoff money)
3. To schedule up to 6 OOC games (national schedule) every year
4. Ability to continue recruiting an ideal member #16 with no rush to do so

What ACC gets:
1. ND as a full member (TV rights to all ND home games, not just the 3 ACC road games)
2. More scheduling flexibility for schools who now only have to play 6-8 games/year depending on the year and which rivalry games fall out of their division, can still play 9+ ACC teams if they choose.
3. NBC TV money from ND
4. No 16th mouth to feed (yet...see ND's #4 above)

Compromise!

The Wordy Details:

the ACC currently has the rights to 58.5 "conference" games (56 ACC games + 2.5 ND games played in ACC home sites). That is with 14 teams playing 8 games each and ND playing 2.5 every year. that 58.5 is only ~60% of all football games ACC has rights to (~98, all home games, assume 7 home games/team).

WHAT IF...

we don't expand, but play with an 8 team division and a 7 team division. we have 4 pods of 4, 4, 4, and 3. the league only schedules division games, but teams are welcome to schedule one another to preserve annual rivalries or to simply fill their schedule.

ND would be in the 3 team pod, meaning they would never HAVE to play more than 6 ACC games/year. ND's pod-members should be whatever 2 teams want the least conference games scheduled for them (FSU and GT maybe...FSU and Clemson would be too harsh). the other 4 team pods would rotate through joining the 3 team pod. i'm thinking every year instead of every other to keep things fresh. ND plays every team in the league in a 3 year cycle.

if everyone only played their bare minimum division games, the ACC would be scheduling 49 games vs 58.5 today, BUT...you know teams will not be giving up home games, so in the end, the ACC will now hold the rights to ~105 football games every year (assuming 7 home games/team on average). so ACC still adds 7 games to their inventory AND those 7 are ND home games (10.5 ND games vs 2.5 today) assuming that part of this deal is to hand over NBC money to the league for inclusion in our full/equal annual distribution.

My pod thoughts (keep in mind, rivalries lost can be preserved via non-division scheduling by the teams themselves):

Pod A (always in Coastal Division):
Notre Dame
FSU (will play Miami in non-division years)
GT (will play Clemson in non-division years)

Pod B (in Coastal in year 1, Atlantic in Year 2 and 3 of rotation):
BC
'Cuse
Miami (will play FSU in non-division years)
Pitt

Pod C (in Coastal in year 2, Atlantic in years 1 and 3 of rotation):
uva
VT
Dook (will play wake in non-division years)
UNC (will play NCSU in non-division years)

Pod D (in Coastal in year 3, Atlantic in years 1 and 2 of rotation):

NCSU (will play UNC in non-division years)
L'ville
Clemson (will play GT in non-division years)
Wake (will play dook in non-division years)

The divisions may not always be balanced (how could they be with uneven numbers?), but no division will ever be without at least 2 of ND, FSU, Clemson, Miami, VT, and everyone will play everyone home and home every 6 years (minimum depending on how they schedule non-division games).

I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.

Remind me how the two championship game opponents are determined in a 4-pod system?

Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in bad humor.

the pods are just used to form 2 divisions every year in my scenario. so the 2 division champs would play just like today. the only difference is that the divisions change every year in a 3 year rotation cycle.

I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.