Conference Realignment: ACC must get better, not just bigger |
News of Texas and Oklahoma possibly leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC sent shockwaves across college sports.
Even before anything has become final, rumors about Kansas, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State, and yes, Clemson, bolting from their respective conferences have started floating around the internet. Amid the chaos, fans are quick to suggest teams the ACC should add. New ACC Commissioner, Jim Phillips, will have to be strategic rather than impulsive. That means the ACC needs to focus on getting better, not just bigger. Commissioner Phillips has already told ESPN he will petition the NCAA to allow them to dissolve divisions, as they did temporarily for 2020 when Notre Dame joined the league and schedules were turned upside-down by the pandemic. Although Clemson's Dabo Swinney said he prefers keeping divisions for scheduling consistency, their removal could help the ACC add a new member institution without having scheduling issues where rivalries are lost, conference schedules are expanded, or teams in opposite divisions only play once every eight years. Without divisions, the ACC is free to add one team without necessarily adding a second. With them, they’d be forced to add two teams to bring the league to an even 16 teams with two eight-team divisions. The ACC has been “less than bashful,” in Phillips' words, about who they want that one team to be: Notre Dame. Now is the time for grand overtures. Last year proved to be a successful trial run. Notre Dame made the ACC far more interesting as Clemson, Miami, and Notre Dame all contended for a trip to Charlotte. The two best teams faced off, and even though it was a rematch, it was the most interesting ACC Championship in years. The ACC TV contract is already more lucrative for Notre Dame than their current situation as an independent, but offering them a larger share of the pie, at least temporarily, than schools like Wake Forest and Boston College, should even be on the table. With the removal of divisions, a guarantee that there will be no move to a nine-game conference schedule could also be part of the offer. This ensures they have four non-conference games to schedule traditional rivalries – like Navy – that they fear they’ll lose if they join the ACC. It is also worth noting that some of the marquee teams they’ve played in the past such as Georgia (’19, ’17) and Texas (‘16, ’15) may be reluctant to schedule tough non-conference matchups while playing in a bigger and better SEC. With the worry created by the SEC’s possible moves, now is the time to bring them fully into the fold and make the invitation as attractive as possible. If they still won’t join, West Virginia is the other option. In the past, lower academic rankings (117th ranking among public schools per US News) were cited to keep them out and make other additions. Does choosing Syracuse and Pittsburgh still look like the right decision now? Did their additions boost Clemson academically? Did replacing Maryland (19th among public schools) with Louisville (87th among public schools) hurt Clemson academics? The answer to those questions is obviously no. As such, Clemson should add the school that strengthens ACC football most. If Notre Dame doesn’t take the offer, West Virginia is the choice. Adding either Notre Dame or West Virginia (but not both) opens up interesting opportunities for a regional pod system that would preserve rivalries while providing both the consistency that Coach Swinney cited as important and some measure of freshness on each year’s ACC schedule. It would also be a valuable way to reduce travel expenditures, especially for non-revenue sports. In the example below, each football team would play the other four teams in their pod and then two teams from each of the other two pods to complete their eight-game conference schedule. Tiebreakers would be settled by head-to-head matchups where they exist and rankings where they do not. ACC realignment proposal Southern Pod: 1. Clemson 2. Florida State 3. Miami 4. Georgia Tech 5. Wake Forest This would likely be the strongest pod, but not overwhelmingly so. This pod ensures Clemson/FSU, UM/FSU, and Clemson/GT continue on an annual basis. Wake Forest is the geographically closer to the other four schools than any other ACC member. Putting them here balances out the strength of the pods. Mid-Atlantic Pod: 1. North Carolina 2. NC State 3. Duke 4. Virginia Tech 5. Virginia Virginia Tech and North Carolina headline this pod. Having Wake Forest separate from the other North Carolina teams seems odd at first glance, but preserving key rivalries (UVA/VT, UVA/UNC) and balancing the strength of the pods is far more important. Wake Forest would still play an average of 1.2 games against their in-state neighbors each year. If the Wake Forest vs. Duke annual rivalry is the biggest one lost in the pod system, it is working pretty well. Northern Pod: 1. Notre Dame or West Virginia 2. Louisville 3. Pittsburgh 4. Boston College 5. Syracuse Either Notre Dame or West Virginia would highlight the ACC’s northern pod. Notre Dame is less than four hours from Louisville while West Virginia is less than two hours from Pittsburgh. Putting this pod together helps limit travel across the conference (Clemson flies to Syracuse and Pittsburgh in consecutive games this year). With a pod system like this, the ACC doesn’t need to add filler teams from the Group of Five that water down each member’s annual TV contract distribution. The ACC has some exciting opportunities to get stronger and not simply bigger. Commissioner Phillips seems committed to putting football first and finding those opportunities. He absolutely must, otherwise conferences with deeper pockets may start causing problems for the ACC.
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