ACC scraps divisions starting 2023


Wonder when they'll post the tie breakers for if more than 2 are at the top at the end of the regular season
 

Won't surprise me to see the Big Ten do something very similar to this.
 

Won't surprise me to see the Big Ten do something very similar to this.
They'll do 3-3x5 to start:

- 3 annual protected matchups
- rotate through the remaining 10 such that you play each 3 times in 5 years
- reevaluate each 5 year period to see if there should be any changes

If you go to 10 conf games, you'd have 3-7x10 or 4-4x6:
- 3 protected + play the remaining 10 each 7 times in 10 year period
- 4 protected + play the remaining 9 each 4 times in a 6 year period
 

While I have come to like the divisions, I don't like the going so long without playing all the members in the East. I think the ACC model is what we'll adopt.
 


Good. The ACC divisions were a mess designed mostly to allow Miami and FSU to meet in the Title Game anyway.
 

Good. The ACC divisions were a mess designed mostly to allow Miami and FSU to meet in the Title Game anyway.
Yep!!

Big Ten tried to force the same absurdity with Leaders/Legends. They fixed that, but the ACC never did.


FSU held up its end of the bargain, until Clemson started owning the conference. But Miami has mostly been a no-show. Almost as bad as Nebraska and Tennessee, in how long it has been since they mattered.
 

this setup would be fun for Gopher fans, but would make it substantially more difficult to win the Big Ten. Unless Nebraska remains the Rutgers of the West a protected 3 is a very hard draw for the U relative to most schools. And it would get borderline unfair if they made Michigan our 3rd protected rival.
 





  • Illinois: Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue. Land of Lincoln game and Purdue are easy geographically. Bielema gets Nebraska annually because that game last year was funny.
  • Indiana: Michigan State, Purdue, Rutgers. Keeping the Bucket and Spittoon were no-brainers. Consider the last pairing “skill-based matchmaking”.
  • Iowa: Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Despite none of these teams being the Hawkeyes’ biggest rival, each of these matchups is indeed a “trophy” game.
  • Maryland: Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers. Geography and recruiting battles were the main factors for Rutgers and PSU. Terps get Northwestern to add a little more traditional B1G flavor to their schedule and to further J-school discourse.
  • Michigan: Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State. The conference’s best football rivalry plus Little Brother plus the 2nd-longest tenured trophy in CFB. Wolverines get what they want out of this exercise.
  • Michigan State: Indiana, Michigan, Purdue. Three old-school Big Ten clashes. The Land Grant Trophy missing the cut is probably this solution’s biggest weakness.
  • Minnesota: Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin. These matchups combine to have been played a grand total of 344 times. Floyd of Rosedale is a personal favorite when it comes to trophies.
  • Nebraska: Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State. The Iowa rivalry is legit. Huskers-Buckeyes is wishful thinking for the future of Nebraska football, whereas Huskers-Illini is for the realists. We’re hedging a bit to account for both possibilities.
  • Northwestern: Illinois, Maryland, Wisconsin. Land of Lincoln, J-school, and the beautiful uniform matchup that is Northwestern-Wisconsin.
  • Ohio State: Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State. The Game, one of the best rivalries in recent memory, and Nebraska just in case they get their act together someday.
  • Penn State: Maryland, Ohio State, Rutgers. Fighting over DMV ‘cruits, actual good game, and the Battle for New Jersey. Penn State does not “deserve better”.
  • Purdue: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State. Boilers lead the Illini in Cannon games 46-45. The Old Oaken Bucket game was also a lock. MSU gets thrown in here because the bleak grass fields of Ross-Ade and Spartan Stadium deserve each other.
  • Rutgers: Indiana, Maryland, Penn State. Scarlet Knights get three schools that excel at pulling students out of New Jersey. “Section 19” ensures that the histories of Indiana and Rutgers will be forever intertwined.
  • Wisconsin: Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern. Nothing exceptional but three solid games/rivalries for Bucky. Big Ten West purists rejoice.
 

Good. The ACC divisions were a mess designed mostly to allow Miami and FSU to meet in the Title Game anyway.
Which happened a grand total of Zero times.
 

Iowa: Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Despite none of these teams being the Hawkeyes’ biggest rival, each of these matchups is indeed a “trophy” game.
Uh, what? The author is aware that ISU is not in the B1G, right?
 





Divisions never worked in the ACC because they made no sense. They didn’t have the nuts to have a north and south division.

This new model isn’t interesting either. But at least they found a way to preserve the Syracuse/ Florida State rivalry.
 



I don't know who else he could possibly be referring to as Iowa's "biggest rival".
What he said is correct, and you confirmed it, so that's why I was following you. I got what he was stating...Iowa is a bit unique in the B1G because their biggest rival, which they've play every year since 1977, is not a conference team. No question that Minnesota is the most storied and historical rivalry, but I can understand in Iowa, the insate game is the biggest.
 

There will be east and west divisions in 2023 if there are additions to the conference in 2024
 

Probably should update the thread title to read ACC scraps conference starting in 2024
 




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