The ACC without walls ...

[baggerbob]

Look at the SEC this year ,all the good teams are in the west, if Alabama wins out, but loses in conference championship game the rule will get changed.

 

[phil77]

If each team had 3 guaranteed opponents each year this is how I think it would look.


Syracuse- Boston College, Pitt, Louisville

Does not excite me....lol

 

[Alsacs]

Current divisions were designed to preserve rivalries, so the best option might be to divide up the current divisions geographically:

Atlantic South: Clemson, FSU, NC State, Wake
Coastal South: Duke, GT, Miami, UNC
Atlantic North: BC, Louisville, Syracuse, +1
Coastal North: Pitt, UVa, VT, +1

Maybe swap Miami and UVa.

There could be one or two permanent or preferred opponents as well.

This could work I like it
South and North could rotate over a 4 yr period where you would play each school every 4 years.

I would do it Atlantic North- BC, Syracuse, Louisville
Coastal North- Miami, Pitt, VPI
Atlantic South- Clemson, FSU, NC State, Wake
Coastal South- Georgia Tech, Duke, UNC, UVA

Each North team would get 1 protected game
BC-Miami, Syracuse-Pitt, Louisville-VPI and just grandfather UVA-VPI, FSU-Miami, Clemson-Georgia Tech, UNC-NCSU,Wake-Duke and rotate the remaining north and south divisional games.
The Pac-12 has grandfathered games nobody talks about USC and UCLA play Stanford and Cal each year even though they are in different divisions it was done in exchange for USC and UCLA agreeing to equal revenue sharing. Those 4 California schools have 7 of their 9 conference games scheduled automatically each year this is something the ACC could do.

 

[Alsacs]

Does not excite me....lol

This would just be the 3 protected games. I get we want sexy games and we would likely get those in the remaining 5 or 6 conference games each year. However, we Syracuse fans have to realize we are on the bottom of the totem pole and those are the teams we have the most history with so they would make sense for our protected rivalry games. Plus, I don't want to have to play Clemson, Miami, Florida State each year and practically beg to go 1-2 in those 3 games I want some games we can win and build momentum.

 

[phil77]

This would just be the 3 protected games. I get we want s e x y games and we would likely get those in the remaining 5 or 6 conference games each year. However, we Syracuse fans have to realize we are on the bottom of the totem pole and those are the teams we have the most history with so they would make sense for our protected rivalry games. Plus, I don't want to have to play Clemson, Miami, Florida State each year and practically beg to go 1-2 in those 3 games I want some games we can win and build momentum.

We need to make sure we get into or have a game against a team in Florida every year. I would think Lou/BC and Miami would be better. McDonald has massive ties in Florida we need to make sure we have a game against a Florida team every year.

 

[Hoo's That]

I agree with this I made this post in the past.
ACC
Pod 1
Syracuse
Boston College
Louisville
Cincinnati/West Virginia

Pod 2
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh
Notre Dame

Pod 3
North Carolina
Duke
North Carolina State
Wake Forest

Pod 4
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Miami
Clemson

You would play your pod, and another pod completely, and then teams that finished in the same spot as you did the previous year a la the NFL.

I was thinking about how to put things together after I posted "my" pod system. I kind of "rotated" how most people put the pods together by 90 degrees.

Line 1 - The Four Traditional Powers - FSU, Miami, ND, Clemson
Line 2 - The Carolina Mafia - Wake, NC State, UNC, Duke
Line 3 - The Lambert Trophy Teams - SU, BC, Navy (if they're #16) or Pitt, Pitt or #16 (if it's not Navy)
Line 4 - The Guys Toward the Middle - VPI, UofL, UVa, Ga Tech

Now to construct the Pods, each Pod gets a team from each line:
Pod A - FSU, Wake, SU, VPI
Pod B - Miami, NC State, BC, UofL
Pod C - ND, UNC, Navy/Pitt, UVa
Pod D - Clemson, Duke, Pitt/#16, Ga Tech

You play everyone in your pod and everyone on your line every year. This accomodates who everyone wants/has to play, tries to keep travel costs reasonable, and still lets you play in all parts of the ACC.

 

[riskylogic]

This could work I like it
South and North could rotate over a 4 yr period where you would play each school every 4 years.

I would do it Atlantic North- BC, Syracuse, Louisville
Coastal North- Miami, Pitt, VPI
Atlantic South- Clemson, FSU, NC State, Wake
Coastal South- Georgia Tech, Duke, UNC, UVA

Each North team would get 1 protected game
BC-Miami, Syracuse-Pitt, Louisville-VPI and just grandfather UVA-VPI, FSU-Miami, Clemson-Georgia Tech, UNC-NCSU,Wake-Duke and rotate the remaining north and south divisional games.
The Pac-12 has grandfathered games nobody talks about USC and UCLA play Stanford and Cal each year even though they are in different divisions it was done in exchange for USC and UCLA agreeing to equal revenue sharing. Those 4 California schools have 7 of their 9 conference games scheduled automatically each year this is something the ACC could do.

I was thinking of the plus +1 as a fourth team, but yes it could be an extra protected game as well in a 14 team (4-4-3-3) pod system. Since there would only be two possible permutations in that circumstance, the cross-divisional games presumably would be against the other like-sized pod - meaning Syracuse would also play two out of the three coastal north teams every year, perhaps with Pitt permanent, and rotating between Miami and VPI. That would put BC, Louisville, and Pitt on the schedule every year, and every other team on alternating years.

 

[riskylogic]

You could also do it by color. There would be the gold helmet pod, the blue pod, the red pod, and then, of course, the orange pod. I guess Syracuse wants to be in the blue pod.

 

[Alsacs]

I was thinking about how to put things together after I posted "my" pod system. I kind of "rotated" how most people put the pods together by 90 degrees.

Line 1 - The Four Traditional Powers - FSU, Miami, ND, Clemson
Line 2 - The Carolina Mafia - Wake, NC State, UNC, Duke
Line 3 - The Lambert Trophy Teams - SU, BC, Navy (if they're #16) or Pitt, Pitt or #16 (if it's not Navy)
Line 4 - The Guys Toward the Middle - VPI, UofL, UVa, Ga Tech

Now to construct the Pods, each Pod gets a team from each line:
Pod A - FSU, Wake, SU, VPI
Pod B - Miami, NC State, BC, UofL
Pod C - ND, UNC, Navy/Pitt, UVa
Pod D - Clemson, Duke, Pitt/#16, Ga Tech

You play everyone in your pod and everyone on your line every year. This accomodates who everyone wants/has to play, tries to keep travel costs reasonable, and still lets you play in all parts of the ACC.

This is very well thought out and not something I have seen before. You would be playing 6 automatic opponents each year and still get great diversity in conference matchups. In the future when I think of pods I will use your model because I like it a lot.

 

[Alsacs]

I was thinking of the plus +1 as a fourth team, but yes it could be an extra protected game as well in a 14 team (4-4-3-3) pod system. Since there would only be two possible permutations in that circumstance, the cross-divisional games presumably would be against the other like-sized pod - meaning Syracuse would also play two out of the three coastal north teams every year, perhaps with Pitt permanent, and rotating between Miami and VPI. That would put BC, Louisville, and Pitt on the schedule every year, and every other team on alternating years.

My thinking was rotating the Atlantic and Coastal teams like you suggest and just have the pods of 3 have protected 1 game between each other to make games even up, but Hoo's That idea for dividing up 16 team pods when it happens just makes to much sense for it not happen.

 

[riskylogic]

This is very well thought out and not something I have seen before. You would be playing 6 automatic opponents each year and still get great diversity in conference matchups. In the future when I think of pods I will use your model because I like it a lot.

With six permanent opponents, there isn't any more diversity than what we have now. No divisions either.

 

[Alsacs]

With six permanent opponents, there isn't any more diversity than what we have now. No divisions either.

Under Hoo's model
Pod A - FSU, Wake, SU, VPI
Pod B - Miami, NC State, BC, UofL
Pod C - ND, UNC, Navy/Pitt, UVa
Pod D - Clemson, Duke, Pitt/#16, Ga Tech

Your Duke Blue Devils are playing Clemson, Pitt, Georgia Tech, NC State, Wake Forest, North Carolina each year.
Then year 1 you also play Notre Dame, Navy, Virginia.
year two you would play Miami Boston College, Louisville
year 3 you would play Florida State, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
then year 4 those games would be at the reverse stadiums and continue the cycle.
By this method each ACC team is playing each every 3 years and playing in each other's stadium every 6 years instead of the current model when you after this year you won't see NC State at Wade-Wallace till 2025.

Hoo's model creates a core 6 game schedule for each team but gets everyone to play one another.

Florida State- Miami, Notre, Dame, Clemson, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
Miami-Florida State, Notre Dame, Clemson, NC State, Boston College, Louisville
Notre Dame- Florida State, Miami, Clemson, North Carolina, Navy, Virginia
Clemson- Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame, Duke, Pitt, Georgia Tech
Wake Forest-NC State, North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
NC State- Wake Forest, North Carolina, Duke, Miami, Boston College, Louisville
North Carolina- Wake Forest, NC State, Duke, Notre Dame, Navy, Virginia
Duke- Wake Forest, NC State, North Carolina, Clemson, Pitt, Georgia Tech
Syracuse- Boston College, Navy, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Wake Forest,Virginia Tech
Boston College- Syracuse, Navy, Pittsburgh, Miami, NC State, Louisville
Navy-Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Virginia
Pittsburgh- Syracuse, Boston College, Navy, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech- Louisville, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Wake Forest, Syracuse
Louisville-Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, Boston College
Virginia- Virginia Tech, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Navy
Georgia Tech- Virginia Tech, Louisville, Virginia, Clemson, Duke, Pittsburgh

Then you would play the last 3 games against one of the 3 pods each year. This system is about as good as it can get. Teams could be moved among their lines to tinker it but this works.