(11-11-2018 06:16 PM)CvilleDukes Wrote:  The Coastal becomes the Big East minus Virginia. As a UVA fan this would be the worst realignment. I think the ACC needs to get rid of divisions or start playing cross division teams more often. It’s ridiculous to only play a cross division team in your conference at home once in six years. Might as well be in a different conference at that point.

The ACC and SEC both need to go divisionless

(11-11-2018 04:50 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I understand the history behind the current ACC "zipper" divisional alignment. Back in the early '00s, there was simply no way to have all the NC schools together and still have competitive balance between the divisions. Plus there was a need to keep the two strongest teams at the time (FSU and Miami) in separate divisions. TBH, the current alignment is actually still quite balanced in football strength. However, at this point, the strength of the individual members has changed such that the divisions could be realigned with the NC schools together while still retaining that balance. And critically, the most important rivalries among all the members can be maintained as well, either through in-division play or protected crossovers. Since the current ACC lineup is likely locked in until 2036 by their GoR, now is as good a time as any for the schools to put themselves in a more suitable alignment.

Here's what I propose:

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Louisville
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Virginia
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This way, Duke/NC State and UNC/Wake don't have to be played 5-7 years apart or OOC. Miami can play BC and Syracuse every year, as they had desired to when coming into the ACC. FSU/GT is once again annual. And both divisions still have access to Florida.

So what do you all think? Any downsides to this? Is inertia the only thing preventing such a realignment at this point?

Here's a slight variation on the original proposal that swaps Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Georgia Tech
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This would presumably make Virginia happy, though I don't know about GT. They retain Clemson and VT as annual matchups but drop FSU and Duke. The latter two may be more disappointed about losing the matchup than GT.

Any merit in this version?

(11-12-2018 09:41 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Conferences would be better off adjusting divisions every 1-2 years, creating parity and allowing the weaker/rebuilding programs to face each other more often.

They'd be better off going back to 10 or 12.

(01-04-2019 05:10 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 04:50 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I understand the history behind the current ACC "zipper" divisional alignment. Back in the early '00s, there was simply no way to have all the NC schools together and still have competitive balance between the divisions. Plus there was a need to keep the two strongest teams at the time (FSU and Miami) in separate divisions. TBH, the current alignment is actually still quite balanced in football strength. However, at this point, the strength of the individual members has changed such that the divisions could be realigned with the NC schools together while still retaining that balance. And critically, the most important rivalries among all the members can be maintained as well, either through in-division play or protected crossovers. Since the current ACC lineup is likely locked in until 2036 by their GoR, now is as good a time as any for the schools to put themselves in a more suitable alignment.

Here's what I propose:

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Louisville
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Virginia
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This way, Duke/NC State and UNC/Wake don't have to be played 5-7 years apart or OOC. Miami can play BC and Syracuse every year, as they had desired to when coming into the ACC. FSU/GT is once again annual. And both divisions still have access to Florida.

So what do you all think? Any downsides to this? Is inertia the only thing preventing such a realignment at this point?

Here's a slight variation on the original proposal that swaps Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Georgia Tech
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This would presumably make Virginia happy, though I don't know about GT. They retain Clemson and VT as annual matchups but drop FSU and Duke. The latter two may be more disappointed about losing the matchup than GT.

Any merit in this version?

Divisionless.

(01-04-2019 05:10 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 04:50 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I understand the history behind the current ACC "zipper" divisional alignment. Back in the early '00s, there was simply no way to have all the NC schools together and still have competitive balance between the divisions. Plus there was a need to keep the two strongest teams at the time (FSU and Miami) in separate divisions. TBH, the current alignment is actually still quite balanced in football strength. However, at this point, the strength of the individual members has changed such that the divisions could be realigned with the NC schools together while still retaining that balance. And critically, the most important rivalries among all the members can be maintained as well, either through in-division play or protected crossovers. Since the current ACC lineup is likely locked in until 2036 by their GoR, now is as good a time as any for the schools to put themselves in a more suitable alignment.

Here's what I propose:

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Louisville
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Virginia
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This way, Duke/NC State and UNC/Wake don't have to be played 5-7 years apart or OOC. Miami can play BC and Syracuse every year, as they had desired to when coming into the ACC. FSU/GT is once again annual. And both divisions still have access to Florida.

So what do you all think? Any downsides to this? Is inertia the only thing preventing such a realignment at this point?

Here's a slight variation on the original proposal that swaps Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Georgia Tech
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This would presumably make Virginia happy, though I don't know about GT. They retain Clemson and VT as annual matchups but drop FSU and Duke. The latter two may be more disappointed about losing the matchup than GT.

Any merit in this version?

Georgia Tech isn't going to be anymore happy about being stuck in a division with all the northeast schools any more than any other pre-expansion ACC team would be. They would be trading games against three of their most played teams (Duke, UNC, & Virginia) the have hardly played like Syracuse (3 games), Louisville (1 game), BC (9 games). That's not going to fly in Atlanta.

(01-04-2019 05:22 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(01-04-2019 05:10 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 04:50 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I understand the history behind the current ACC "zipper" divisional alignment. Back in the early '00s, there was simply no way to have all the NC schools together and still have competitive balance between the divisions. Plus there was a need to keep the two strongest teams at the time (FSU and Miami) in separate divisions. TBH, the current alignment is actually still quite balanced in football strength. However, at this point, the strength of the individual members has changed such that the divisions could be realigned with the NC schools together while still retaining that balance. And critically, the most important rivalries among all the members can be maintained as well, either through in-division play or protected crossovers. Since the current ACC lineup is likely locked in until 2036 by their GoR, now is as good a time as any for the schools to put themselves in a more suitable alignment.

Here's what I propose:

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Louisville
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Virginia
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This way, Duke/NC State and UNC/Wake don't have to be played 5-7 years apart or OOC. Miami can play BC and Syracuse every year, as they had desired to when coming into the ACC. FSU/GT is once again annual. And both divisions still have access to Florida.

So what do you all think? Any downsides to this? Is inertia the only thing preventing such a realignment at this point?

Here's a slight variation on the original proposal that swaps Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Georgia Tech
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This would presumably make Virginia happy, though I don't know about GT. They retain Clemson and VT as annual matchups but drop FSU and Duke. The latter two may be more disappointed about losing the matchup than GT.

Any merit in this version?

Georgia Tech isn't going to be anymore happy about being stuck in a division with all the northeast schools any more than any other pre-expansion ACC team would be. They would be trading games against three of their most played teams (Duke, UNC, & Virginia) the have hardly played like Syracuse (3 games), Louisville (1 game), BC (9 games). That's not going to fly in Atlanta.

Well, we could put FSU with the ex-Big East teams instead, as was suggested earlier. Although I think the original ACC schools would object to not having a Florida team to play every year.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Florida State, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Florida State
Duke/Pittsburgh
Georgia Tech/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

And before anyone says "divisionless" again, yes, I know that would be preferable for the ACC, but I'm just trying to work within the current system.

(11-11-2018 06:21 PM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 06:16 PM)CvilleDukes Wrote:  The Coastal becomes the Big East minus Virginia. As a UVA fan this would be the worst realignment. I think the ACC needs to get rid of divisions or start playing cross division teams more often. It’s ridiculous to only play a cross division team in your conference at home once in six years. Might as well be in a different conference at that point.

You got it. Finally a voice of reason.
Divisions should be Big East + FSU vs ACC from 1990.

But all conferences should:
1) get rid of divisions
2) play 9 conference games (5 permanent opps), this way everyone plays each other in 2 year span
3) conf champ game is #1 vs #2 in conference

the current CCG rules do not allow for this

you can only match the two best teams in the CCG if you play a full CONFERENCE round robin

if you do not play a full conference round robin then the only way you can have a CCG is to play in divisions and play a DIVISIONAL round robin and then you must match the winners of those divisions in the CCG

the Big 10 specifically made those rules changes so that the ACC would not be able to play in three divisions of five and then match the two best teams in the conference in the CCG.......after the Big 10 pushed that rules change the ACC was so upset they voted against any changes to the CCG format even though the ACC was the one that actually first proposed it even before the Big 12

most people on this forum actually thought the Big 10 was doing that to screw the Big 12, but the reality is the Big 12 is the only conference that can currently do either of those options

laughably the Big 10 now wishes they could match the two best teams in the conference, but they are too stupid to actually remember the rules they proposed and passed

The ACC should probably go to ACC and Big East divisions.

This leaves one “extra” ACC team. Ship one team to the Big East division and then use permanent rival designations to protect specific games.

FSU-Miami
UVA-VT
Etc

(01-04-2019 05:10 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 04:50 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I understand the history behind the current ACC "zipper" divisional alignment. Back in the early '00s, there was simply no way to have all the NC schools together and still have competitive balance between the divisions. Plus there was a need to keep the two strongest teams at the time (FSU and Miami) in separate divisions. TBH, the current alignment is actually still quite balanced in football strength. However, at this point, the strength of the individual members has changed such that the divisions could be realigned with the NC schools together while still retaining that balance. And critically, the most important rivalries among all the members can be maintained as well, either through in-division play or protected crossovers. Since the current ACC lineup is likely locked in until 2036 by their GoR, now is as good a time as any for the schools to put themselves in a more suitable alignment.

Here's what I propose:

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Louisville
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Virginia
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This way, Duke/NC State and UNC/Wake don't have to be played 5-7 years apart or OOC. Miami can play BC and Syracuse every year, as they had desired to when coming into the ACC. FSU/GT is once again annual. And both divisions still have access to Florida.

So what do you all think? Any downsides to this? Is inertia the only thing preventing such a realignment at this point?

Here's a slight variation on the original proposal that swaps Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Georgia Tech
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This would presumably make Virginia happy, though I don't know about GT. They retain Clemson and VT as annual matchups but drop FSU and Duke. The latter two may be more disappointed about losing the matchup than GT.

Any merit in this version?

Duke and GT have played every year since 1933.

(01-04-2019 06:19 PM)XLance Wrote:  

(01-04-2019 05:10 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 04:50 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I understand the history behind the current ACC "zipper" divisional alignment. Back in the early '00s, there was simply no way to have all the NC schools together and still have competitive balance between the divisions. Plus there was a need to keep the two strongest teams at the time (FSU and Miami) in separate divisions. TBH, the current alignment is actually still quite balanced in football strength. However, at this point, the strength of the individual members has changed such that the divisions could be realigned with the NC schools together while still retaining that balance. And critically, the most important rivalries among all the members can be maintained as well, either through in-division play or protected crossovers. Since the current ACC lineup is likely locked in until 2036 by their GoR, now is as good a time as any for the schools to put themselves in a more suitable alignment.

Here's what I propose:

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Louisville
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Virginia
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This way, Duke/NC State and UNC/Wake don't have to be played 5-7 years apart or OOC. Miami can play BC and Syracuse every year, as they had desired to when coming into the ACC. FSU/GT is once again annual. And both divisions still have access to Florida.

So what do you all think? Any downsides to this? Is inertia the only thing preventing such a realignment at this point?

Here's a slight variation on the original proposal that swaps Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Georgia Tech
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This would presumably make Virginia happy, though I don't know about GT. They retain Clemson and VT as annual matchups but drop FSU and Duke. The latter two may be more disappointed about losing the matchup than GT.

Any merit in this version?

Duke and GT have played every year since 1933.

Alabama and Vanderbilt played every year from 1953 to 2002. Ohio State and Illinois played every year from 1914 to 2002. Sometimes long-standing annual series are sacrificed due to expansion and/or divisional realignment if they aren't very important.

If we stay with divisions the only thing I could see happening is swapping either VaTech or Pitt with either BC or Syracuse to give the conference a true zipper. The best I came up with was Pitt for BC.

BC-SU
UVa-Pitt
VT-UL
UNC-NCSU
Duke-WF
GT-CU
Miami-FSU

It doesn’t cause too many waves and keeps Clemson and FSU out of the northeast every year.

(01-04-2019 05:22 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(01-04-2019 05:10 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-11-2018 04:50 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  I understand the history behind the current ACC "zipper" divisional alignment. Back in the early '00s, there was simply no way to have all the NC schools together and still have competitive balance between the divisions. Plus there was a need to keep the two strongest teams at the time (FSU and Miami) in separate divisions. TBH, the current alignment is actually still quite balanced in football strength. However, at this point, the strength of the individual members has changed such that the divisions could be realigned with the NC schools together while still retaining that balance. And critically, the most important rivalries among all the members can be maintained as well, either through in-division play or protected crossovers. Since the current ACC lineup is likely locked in until 2036 by their GoR, now is as good a time as any for the schools to put themselves in a more suitable alignment.

Here's what I propose:

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Louisville, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Virginia, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Louisville
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Virginia
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This way, Duke/NC State and UNC/Wake don't have to be played 5-7 years apart or OOC. Miami can play BC and Syracuse every year, as they had desired to when coming into the ACC. FSU/GT is once again annual. And both divisions still have access to Florida.

So what do you all think? Any downsides to this? Is inertia the only thing preventing such a realignment at this point?

Here's a slight variation on the original proposal that swaps Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Atlantic: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Coastal: Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami-FL, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Syracuse

The protected annual crossovers:

Clemson/Georgia Tech
Duke/Pittsburgh
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/Boston College
North Carolina/Louisville
Virginia/Virginia Tech
Wake Forest/Syracuse

This would presumably make Virginia happy, though I don't know about GT. They retain Clemson and VT as annual matchups but drop FSU and Duke. The latter two may be more disappointed about losing the matchup than GT.

Any merit in this version?

Georgia Tech isn't going to be anymore happy about being stuck in a division with all the northeast schools any more than any other pre-expansion ACC team would be. They would be trading games against three of their most played teams (Duke, UNC, & Virginia) the have hardly played like Syracuse (3 games), Louisville (1 game), BC (9 games). That's not going to fly in Atlanta.

I've heard the GT AD. They want to be with the other strong academic schools-Duke, UNC, UVA.

(01-04-2019 06:17 PM)1845 Bear Wrote:  The ACC should probably go to ACC and Big East divisions.

This leaves one “extra” ACC team. Ship one team to the Big East division and then use permanent rival designations to protect specific games.

FSU-Miami
UVA-VT
Etc

Or they could just split. I like the idea of two groups in the east with two 12 team leagues.
BTN group
Big 10 UNL, IA, MN, WI, NW, IL, IU, PU, UM, MSU, tOSU, RU
Big Atlantic Miami, GT, UNC, Duke, UVA, VT, Pitt, ND, Penn St., MD, perhaps UConn and USF
SEN group
SEC FL, UGA, TN, Vandy, UK, USCe, AL, Auburn, LSU, UM, MSU, A&M
ACC FSU, Clemson, NCSU, WF, SU, BC, UL, Mizzou, Arkansas, WVU, perhaps UCF and Temple

ACC just sends Coastal to one group and Atlantic to the other.

To go division less and stay at 8 conference games and not break any traditional games you need four permanet games, six bi annual games, and three games played once every three years.

For instance

GT - Duke, Clemson, Miami, UVa, every year. UNC/NCSU, FSU/Pitt, WF/BC every other year. Then Syracuse, Louisville, and VT once every three years.
Clemson - GT, FSU, Louisville, BC every year. UNC/NCSU, VT/UVa, Miami/WF every other year. Then Syracuse, Pitt, and Duke once every three years.
FSU - Clemson, Miami, Louisville, Syracuse every year. NCSU/GT, Pitt/BC, UVa/VT every other year. Then WF, Duke, and UNC once every three years.

That allows the league to keep annual games like:

UNC - UVa/NCSU/Duke/WF
NCSU - UNC/WF/Duke/UVA
VT - UVa/WF/Pitt/Miami
Syracuse - BC/Louisville/Pitt/FSU
UVa - UNC/VT/GT/NCSU
Pitt - BC/Syracuse/Pitt/Miami
BC - Pitt/Clemson/Syracuse/Louisville
Miami - FSU/VT/GT/Pitt

As important as the four you play every year is the three you play once every three years. Using this year as an example, NC State might have ducked Clemson in the regular season, but would have faced them in a championship game and gotten killed like anyone else. Syracuse, tagged with losses to Clemson and Pitt would likely be third instead of second.

I would add UCinn. and UConn.
North Div: BC, UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, Cincinnati, Louisville, Va.Tech,VA.
South Div: Fla.State, Ga.Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, N.Carolina, N.Carolina State, Duke, Miami.
Part-time member: Notre Dame

Nerdlinger's alignment is truly the best alignment for the current set up. Ideally the ACC would add Notre Dame and WVU as full members in the Big East Legacy Division and UVA could move over with the ACC founders.

Protected crossovers:
UVA/VT
FSU/Miami

(01-04-2019 09:07 PM)Statefan Wrote:  To go division less and stay at 8 conference games and not break any traditional games you need four permanet games, six bi annual games, and three games played once every three years.

For instance

GT - Duke, Clemson, Miami, UVa, every year. UNC/NCSU, FSU/Pitt, WF/BC every other year. Then Syracuse, Louisville, and VT once every three years.
Clemson - GT, FSU, Louisville, BC every year. UNC/NCSU, VT/UVa, Miami/WF every other year. Then Syracuse, Pitt, and Duke once every three years.
FSU - Clemson, Miami, Louisville, Syracuse every year. NCSU/GT, Pitt/BC, UVa/VT every other year. Then WF, Duke, and UNC once every three years.

That allows the league to keep annual games like:

UNC - UVa/NCSU/Duke/WF
NCSU - UNC/WF/Duke/UVA
VT - UVa/WF/Pitt/Miami
Syracuse - BC/Louisville/Pitt/FSU
UVa - UNC/VT/GT/NCSU
Pitt - BC/Syracuse/Pitt/Miami
BC - Pitt/Clemson/Syracuse/Louisville
Miami - FSU/VT/GT/Pitt

As important as the four you play every year is the three you play once every three years. Using this year as an example, NC State might have ducked Clemson in the regular season, but would have faced them in a championship game and gotten killed like anyone else. Syracuse, tagged with losses to Clemson and Pitt would likely be third instead of second.

Interesting setup! My solution would be to have just 3 protected opponents and alternate between half the other 10 opponents every 2 years.

There are some key rivalries that you're not protecting as annual games, notably Clemson/NCSU (which NCSU cares about a lot more than Clemson), as well as new/renewed rivalries with potential, like BC/Miami and FSU/GT.

Below is my most recent divisionless setup for the current ACC. If we're going with 4 protected opponents, ignore the last column.


What do you think of this?

Just swap VT and Syracuse with the current divisions and call it a day. It's the perfect zipper at that point.

Each division has a team in Florida.
Each division has a team in SC/GA.
Each division has two teams in NC.
Each division has a team in VA
Each division has a "midwest" team (Pitt & Louisville)
Each division has a team in the NE.

VT gets UVA as their protected rival, Syracuse gets BC & Louisville and Pitt can renew their Big East rivalry.

(01-05-2019 12:32 PM)MrCincy Wrote:  I would add UCinn. and UConn.
North Div: BC, UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, Cincinnati, Louisville, Va.Tech,VA.
South Div: Fla.State, Ga.Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, N.Carolina, N.Carolina State, Duke, Miami.
Part-time member: Notre Dame

If the ACC decides to go to a bloated 17-team conference, it sure as he'll isn't going to be with Uconn and Cincy. As long as the myth of ND full membership hangs out there, the ACC isn't expanding.

Get rid of divisions and conference championship games