Yesterday, the ACC revealed conference opponents for 2024-30 for its unwieldy 17-team conference. (17 is a prime number).
The highlights:
Only 8 conference games.
The Odyssey was hoping for 9. Why only 8? Some Athletic Directors still want to have one more guaranteed non-conference home game. Scheduling one more cupcake makes it easier to attain a 6-6 ,mark that would qualify a team for a Toilet Bowl. The 15 added practices for even a podunk bowl game are like catnip for coaches. Last, the Notre Dame factor exists. As long as the arrangement continues that the Irish will play 5 ACC teams annually, each team will periodically have a challenging non-conference game on their schedule.
16 protected annual rivalries
As in the Big 10, the number of protected rivalries varies by team. Georgia Tech and Louisville are free agents with no protected games. On the other end of the spectrum, North Carolina State and Duke have their 3 Tobacco Road rivalries protected. One former Big East rivalry is restored with annual tilts between Miami and Virginia Tech. Thankfully, Duke and NC State will play annually as the schools are only 22 miles apart.. Their meetings had been tragically infrequent over the past 2 decades.
North Carolina also has 3 protected rivalries. Protecting games with Duke and NC State were no brainers. There must have been conversation about the third protected game for the Tar Heels. The Odyssey has no doubt that Wake Forest wanted an annual game with the in-state Tar Heels. Yet, Virginia was tabbed as the third protected game for North Carolina. In a way, it is a shame that the Tar Heels could not have 4 protected games but the mutual concerns of scheduling equity and the infrequency of playing other conference foes must have played a role in limiting the Tar Heels to 3 protected games. On a similar note, NC State-Clemson, having played 91 times for a trophy, sadly became a casualty due to NC State’s 3 Tobacco Road protected games.
Florida State will face a harder road to win the ACC since they will annually play Clemson and Miami, assuming that 4-4 Clemson’s dip is only temporary.
Clemson’s regional rivalries were scorned with Georgia Tech (89 games to date) and NC State. We see no reason the regional game with Georgia Tech could not have been protected. Curious!
Issues relating to the Wine Sipping Schools
Cal and Stanford will make at 3 trips back East annually as both will play SMU annually (It should be noted that San Francisco to Dallas is not a hop, skip and a jump). The conference is open to the possibility of 2 such trips being scheduled on successive Saturdays. Start times for the San Francisco schools on the East coast or for the Eastern schools in San Francisco will be interesting. Body clocks do not imediately acclimate after long travel. ACC After Dark, anyone?
None of the existing 14 members will make trips to Cali in successive years.
Will Notre Dame’s annual game with Stanford count as one of the Irish’s 5 ACC games per year? Stay tuned.