Tell me if I'm crazy, but what if divisions changed yearly? Could that ever work?
You're not crazy. It would be easier with sixteen teams and pods of four, but it could be done. I think it should be done.
I get the argument that you don't develop rivalries otherwise, but that doesn't make sense with the divisions not geographical and with 7 teams in the division. FSU is never going to develop big time rivalries with Pitt and BC, just won't happen, but the current structure basically PREVENTS FSU and GT from ever playing each other, and BC and Pitt. The current divisions have been in place for years and haven't created any rivalries where there weren't before, and it has broken up others (FSU-GT, Wake-UNC)
The fundamental problem is that in the ACC, nobody needs 7 annual set opponents, which is what we have. It's just awful. We leave too many good games (Miami-Clemson, Clemson-VT, VT-FSU, Louisville-VT, Miami-SU etc etc etc) on the table, and yet play FSU-BC, Pitt-Duke, SU-Wake, every single year. Those are games that just aren't justified by either tradition, proximity or national appeal.
I can understand (although I respectfully disagree) with the problems with a north-south split. But at least that creates some proximity and history sensibility to the seven mandated annual games.
So if you don't want to do north/south, I really think the best bang for the buck is a totally new (albeit complicated) system based on two pods of five teams and one pod of four teams. Set the schedule accordingly so each team has four (or in the case of the 4-team pod, five) every-year opponents. Those are the rivals. Nobody needs more than those.
Most likely that would mean no division, and the top two seeds to the ACC championship game. That's ok. I understand that is against the rules now, but that rule can be changed. We already know the B12 wants to change it, and there is no real reason for any other conference to oppose it, other than spite. That rule is a vestige of the old, over-powerful NCAA, and we are moving into an era where the conferences will be empowered with those kinds of decisions. Changing that rule should be the easiest part of the scenario.
With 16 teams, I would match two pods into a division for two year periods, and re-rack it, but it isn't an option with 14. So forgo the divisions, which almost nobody knows anyway...even on here I see the names used incorrectly. Nobody outside the ACC knows what teams are in which division after 8 years of this anyway. Hell, outside the SEC I bet most fans don't know the divisions of other conferences. Divisions just haven't worked out all that well for anyone beside the SEC, and probably hastened the destruction of the Big 12.
It's time for fresh thinking, and the ACC should be on the forefront.
