The ACC is looking to change their football schedule during their fall meetings, which start on Thursday, according to ESPN’s Andrea Adelson.
Adelson reported that most of these changes come because of the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU to the conference starting with the 2024-25 calendar year. The three new ACC members will join in every sport that the conference hosts sports in and increase the total of schools to 18. (Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest)
The big changes to the schedule include getting rid of the three permanent rivals in favor of protected games. The ACC moved away from the divisional model, which saw seven teams each in the Atlantic and Coastal divisions, with the winners facing off in the Championship Game, after the 2022 season.
Instead, they gave each ACC team three permanent rivals, which they would play twice home-and-away from 2023-26. They would also face all other ACC opponents twice during that time, once at home and once on the road. The permanent rivals for Pitt football are Boston College, Virginia Tech and also Syracuse, who they have faced every season since 1955.
The ACC will look to implement a model more akin to the one the Big Ten uses, where they have protected games. The Big Ten have added former Pac-12 schools in UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington, which will lead to changes going forward as well. Examples of current protected games in the Big Ten for next season are UCLA vs. USC, Ohio State vs. Michigan and Indiana vs. Purdue.
Likely examples in the ACC would feature Pitt vs. Syracuse, Duke vs. UNC, Florida State vs. Miami and Virginia vs. Virginia Tech. Still, there are teams that the ACC may not give a protected rival to. The Big Ten did not give Penn State, who pride themselves on having no rivals, coining the slogan “UNRIVALVED,” any protected rival, the only team in the conference to not receive one.
Another challenge for the conference is the protected games with Notre Dame. Notre Dame plays as an independent in football, despite playing in the ACC in almost all other sports but have a deal through 2036 with the conference to play five ACC teams each season.
Adelson also reported that the conference is not going back to divisions, so the ACC Atlantic and Coastal Divisions will not return anytime soon. Discussions will continue to keep going on for the next few days during the fall meetings, meaning that there are many ways the ACC will consider to deal with their football scheduling in the future.
