Breaking down the ACC’s matches: Analysis, 2024 schedules, safeguarded competitors
Oct 30, 2023, 07:42 AM ET The ACC launched its new scheduling design for 2024-2030 on Monday, accounting for the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU, which formally begin league play next season. The league secured 16 annual competition games. It limited travel to the West Coast for the 14 present ACC members who will each play an overall of three times in California through 2030, and none will take a trip to California in back-to-back seasons.ACC press reporters Andrea Adelson and David Hale weigh in with their early thoughts on the brand-new format.What’s your first impression from the release?Adelson: The
league did a good job securing the games it absolutely had to secure, like Florida State-Miami, Florida State-Clemson, Duke-North Carolina and Virginia-Virginia Tech(among others). Having Stanford, Cal and SMU play each other every year also is a no-brainer. I am also delighted that Miami-Virginia Tech and Wake Forest-NC State are back on as protected games after they were dropped this season when the league went to no departments and a 3-3-5 scheduling design. There will be concerns, of course, about fairness. Florida State, for example, has two secured games and Clemson has just one. Georgia Tech and Louisville have zero. We still do not know yet how Notre Dame will factor into the rotation, either. But on the whole, the fact that travel to the West Coast will be reduced for current ACC groups, geography was a main consider scheduling, and the most significant, best competition games were protected indicates the league did yeoman’s operate in creating this schedule for 17 groups spread literally throughout the country.Editor’s Picks< img src="https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/photo/2023/0901/r1218837_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center "width ="65 "height=
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Hale: Let’s address the apparent right off the bat: There was no perfect plan for scheduling. In the age of puffed up conferences and nationwide competition, everybody needs to make a few compromises. In all, the ACC did a solid job addressing the bulk of the core issues by preserving essential rivalries, restricting cross-country travel and offering enough marquee matches to keep TV partners pleased. Should Florida State be upset that, more years than not, it will have Miami, Clemson, Florida and most likely Notre Dame on the schedule, when some of its leading ACC competitors won’t have quite so hard a haul? Well, Florida State being upset at the ACC is not new regardless. The Notre Dame question, nevertheless, remains the greatest one still sticking around. How will the addition of the Irish as a nonconference partner for 5 or six games effect competitive balance? Does Notre Dame’s yearly game against Stanford count toward its legal responsibility with the ACC now that Stanford is an ACC member? As constantly, there are a couple of loose ends still in requirement of connecting.2024 game we’re most excited about
Adelson: When the 3-3-5 scheduling model came out for this season, I was extremely singing about my displeasure with losing Miami-Virginia Tech, a throwback rivalry from their Huge East days. While the game may have lost a few of its national radiance in current years as both programs failed, more often than not their games constantly provided. Up up until this season, the game had actually been played every year given that 1992. While that number is reasonably small thinking about the other competitions in the conference, Miami was independent for a big portion of its history, and aside from Florida State, Virginia Tech had become its biggest competitor once it joined the Big East. Three of their previous 4 games were decided by a touchdown or less, and if we want to go further back into history, these teams played 11 times as Top 25 challengers.
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Hale: The 2 that leap out right away are Florida State playing at SMU and Miami making the journey to Cal. For all the downsides of adjustment and the loss of geographically aligned conferences, getting to see a few of the ACC’s top teams in brand-new locations should be an advantage for all celebrations. The Miami-Cal match will definitely revive memories of the dramatic 2008 Emerald Bowl– no? no one recalls this game? Randy Shannon, we’re searching in your instructions– however the 2024 trip will actually be the very first true road game in the state of California for the Hurricanes because 1995. Florida State opened the 2014 season versus Oklahoma State in Dallas, however the game at SMU will represent the Seminoles’ very first real roadway date in Texas because 1976– 5 years before Mike Norvell was born. (That was Bobby Bowden’s first year at FSU. The opponent? North Texas State coached by Hayden Fry!) For two of Florida’s leading programs, going into two states typically abundant with recruiting skill has some unique advantages, too.Matchup we’re bummed we will not be seeing
Adelson: It actually is a bummer to see the Textile Bowl in between Clemson and NC State go, a game that has actually been played 91 times going back to 1899 (although NC State fans might feel a little in a different way thinking about Clemson has dominated the series). While it is easy to understand that the ACC wanted to safeguard the rivalry games between the North Carolina schools, Clemson-NC State has actually provided its reasonable share of unforgettable moments– especially over the previous decade, as the Tigers have actually consistently stood in the method of NC State getting an opportunity to play in the ACC national championship. However we also got a red Solo cup and cigar-smoking Dave Doeren after a big double-overtime win in 2021, so it hasn’t all been bad for the Wolfpack.Hale: Hey, NC State has actually won two of the past three versus Clemson, so maybe it’s the Tigers who must be pleased this game is disappearing. And, obviously, it will not be gone permanently– simply played a bit less often. The very same is true for Clemson and Georgia Tech. But it’s actually the Georgia Tech-Florida State game that I’m upset we’re losing. Under the brief 3-5-5 design the ACC established last year, these two schools would’ve played annually– something FSU administrators long pined for, offered the sizable alumni base and fertile recruiting ground in Atlanta– however alas, it was too beautiful for this world. Naturally, Georgia Tech and FSU will play in 2024– a game that was already etched in stone before the new scheduling model came out. It simply will not be an easy commute for FSU alums in Florida or Georgia. The game will be played in Dublin, Ireland.2024 challengers and irreversible rivals 2024 Home: Louisville, North Carolina, Pitt, Syracuse 2024 Away: Florida State, SMU, Virginia, Virginia Tech Permanent competitors: Syracuse, Pitt
2024 Home: Miami, NC State,
Stanford, Syracuse 2024 Away: Florida State, Pitt, SMU, Wake Forest Permanent competitors: Stanford, SMU 2024 Home: Louisville, NC State, Stanford, Virginia 2024 Away: Florida State, Pitt, Virginia
Tech, Wake Forest Irreversible competitors: Florida State 2024 Home: Florida State, North Carolina, SMU,
Virginia Tech 2024 Away: Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, Wake Forest Irreversible competitors: North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest 2024 Home: Boston College, Cal, Clemson, North Carolina 2024 Away: Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU Permanent competitors: Clemson, Miami 2024 Home: Duke, Florida State, Miami, NC State 2024 Away: Louisville, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia Tech Long-term competitors: None 2024 Home: Georgia Tech, Miami, Pitt, SMU 2024 Away: Boston College
, Clemson, Stanford, Virginia Long-term competitors: None 2024 Home: Duke, Florida State, VT, Wake Forest 2024 Away: Cal, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Syracuse Irreversible competitors: Virginia Tech, Florida State 2024 Home: Georgia Tech, NC State, Pitt, Wake Forest 2024 Away: Boston College, Duke, Florida State, Virginia Permanent competitors: Virginia, Duke, NC State 2024 Home: Duke, Stanford, Syracuse, Wake Forest 2024 Away: Cal, Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina Permanent rivals: Wake Forest, Duke, North Carolina 2024 Home: Cal, Clemson, Syracuse, Virginia 2024 Away: Boston College, Louisville, North Carolina, SMU Long-term rivals: Boston College, Syracuse 2024 Home: Boston College, Cal, Florida State, Pitt 2024 Away: Duke, Louisville,
Stanford, Virginia Permanent rivals: Stanford, Cal 2024 Home: Louisville, SMU, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest 2024 Away: Cal, Clemson, NC State, Syracuse Irreversible competitors: Cal, SMU
2024 Home: Georgia Tech, Miami, Stanford, Virginia Tech
2024 Away: Boston College, Cal, NC State, Pitt
Irreversible competitors: Boston College, Pitt
2024 Home: Boston College, Louisville, North Carolina, SMU 2024 Away: Clemson, Pitt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest Long-term competitors: North Carolina, Virginia Tech
2024 Home: Boston College, Clemson,
Georgia Tech, Virginia 2024 Away: Duke, Miami,
Stanford, Syracuse Permanent rivals: Miami, Virginia 2024 Home: Cal, Clemson, Duke Virginia 2024 Away: Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Stanford Permanent rivals: Duke, NC State