It is Official ACC will be going to Pods in 2016

[Cardfan1963]

I see us like this.
1. UofL
2. Virginia
3.Miami
4. Pitt

Dodd

 

[topdecktiger]

Actually it's not official at all. Actually, it was Bob Bowlsby speculating, not anyone from the ACC.

 

[zipp]

Need to add a team. There's no mention of "pods" that I saw. Only three ACC divisions, presumably of five teams each...

 

[ULCard17]

If that's our pod why did we leave the American?

 

[Cardfan1963]

Pods, Divisions, Rival groupings. Does it matter what they call it? things are going to change after this season.

 

[topdecktiger]

Originally posted by Cardfan1963:
Pods, Divisions, Rival groupings. Does it matter what they call it? things are going to change after this season.







But see, the article doesn't say that. The article just offers speculation. It doesn't state anything as established fact. You are making too big of a leap.

Here is what's being reported on this subject by Heather Dinich:

On the ACC with 3 divisions:

Bowlsby told @dennisdoddcbs there's been talk about ACC going to 3 divisions but Swofford told me "that's unlikely in our league."





JS:We haven’t really discussed that to any degree of seriousness. A few yrs ago it came up briefly but didn’t get legs in our discussions.

On the deregulation petition itself:




Bowlsby said "whether the votes will be there to change it is anybody's guess."



Asked Bowlsby if there is a date yet for it to be voted on. He said no, "very preliminary."

That doesn't say "it's official" to me.

This post was edited on 4/8 1:29 PM by topdecktiger

Link

 

[GoldCard]

This will be great if it comes to fruition. However, you can count on Virginia being grouped with North Carolina and VPI if it happens. If you have 3 divisions, you need 5 teams each which means either Notre Dame needs to join for football, or the league needs to add another team. (Then if Notre Dame joins later, the grouping changes to 4x4).

Central: Virginia, VPI, UNC, NC State, Duke
North: Boston College, Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame
South: Florida State, Wake, Clemson, GIT, Miami

Actually, no matter which way you slice it the groupings will be awkward. The one I have above breaks up the Wake v Duke rivalry. UNC v Duke is a big rivalry but NC State v UNC is bigger in football, UVA v VPI has to happen, and UVA v UNC is one of the oldest rivalries in all of sports, so that has to stay together. Also, if Notre Dame ever joins (big IF) they will want to be paired with BC for sure, and probably prefer Pitt and SU, but I can see them wanting FSU and/or Miami for recruiting purposes.

But as others in the thread have pointed out, this is nowhere near official.

 

[American Male]

Three Divisions for the ACC...OK...Here's how I'd set it up:

North
Boston College
Pittsburgh
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Virginia Tech

Central
Clemson
Duke
Louisville
North Carolina
Virginia

South
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina State
Wake Forest

The Permanent Cross Division Rivals would go down the list to set up like this...

Example:
BC plays Clemson and FSU
Pitt plays Duke and G-Tech
Notre Dame plays Louisville and Miami
Syracuse plays UNC and NC State
Virginia Tech plays Virginia and Wake Forest

This set up keeps Traditional Rivals (UNC vs. UVA, Clemson vs. FSU, FSU vs. Miami etc...), and BAD Blood Rivals (Notre Dame vs. Miami, Louisville vs. Miami, UNC vs. NS St. etc...).

Then you play the other four teams on a rotating basis...That's 8 conference games every year.

Then the ACC vs. SEC Teams Fill out their RIVAL Schedule for a ninth game, while the remaining teams schedule a P5 team, or QUALITY OOC Non P5 Team (BYU, Boise State, Cincinnati, Service Academies etc...) of their choice for a ninth game.

From there, schedule three more OOC Games between either P5 and/or QUALITY None P5 Teams.

Just a thought!

 

[ULCard17]

American Male. I line your suggestion a lot. I would be in favor of that.

 

[PushupMan]

A 3 division alignment is extremely unlikely - there's just no reason to do it, whether Notre Dame is in consideration for the conference championship game or not.

Much more likely is no divisions, with each ACC team having 3 permanent annual games plus 5 games against the other 10 conference teams each year. The top two teams either by conference record or by CFP ranking (or both) would play for the ACC championship.

If the ACC decided to use the CFP rankings rather than the conference records, they could easily fold Notre Dame into the ACC championship game - assuming everyone agreed to it.

 

[GoldCard]

PushUp, you're probably right on the no division format. The ACC seems to want that according to speculation that took place last year.

As for Notre Dame playing in the championship game, I don't see any way in heck that the other schools allow them that luxury without joining as a full member. We already have them in a scheduling agreement. There's no benefit to letting them steal a playoff spot unless the league gets the benefit of their full commitment.

 

[Ara64]

It wouldn't make sense for us to be consider for the conference championship game because we only play five games. It wouldn't be fair to the other conference members.

 

[cardsfan53]

My thoughts is that the power 5 conferences will all go away from divisions, and use the college football rankings to determine the 2 teams in the conference championship game. Honestly I think that will be better than having 3 divisons.

I remember reading somewhere a few seasons ago the sec east champion would have finished 4th in the sec west. So regardless of divisons I think the best two teams need to be in the title game.