🏈 OT: ACC leaning toward eight-game scheduling model

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Maintaining an eight-game scheduling model for ACC football has significant support entering a vote of league athletic directors this week in Amelia Island, Fla., several sources told CBSSports.com.

“Momentum seems to be going that way but a discussion and vote is a few days away,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said Sunday night via text.

Added a separate athletic director who has supported a nine-game model: “I think it's leaning toward an eight-game model. That's what it feels like.”

The ACC is the last of the five power conferences to decide on the surprisingly divisive eight-vs-nine issue among college football fans.

The ACC is also not as set on the direction than the SEC, whose officials were overwhelming in eight-game support. An ESPN.com story in late April revealed half the ACC's athletic directors prefer nine games.

But as one league athletic director pointed out, much of the legwork has been done well before the meetings. Athletic directors have been discussing this either privately or in meetings for months.

Faculty athletic representatives ratify the athletic directors' vote, which should come Tuesday or Wednesday. Sources stress that the discussions will be thorough and that nothing has been finalized. Directors from recent full-time additions (Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville) plus Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock (hired in January) could prefer a spirited debate in Amelia Island.

Looming large in the decision are league powers Clemson and FSU, both of which favor eight.

League officials have been asked to consider a model similar to the SEC's – an eight-game conference schedule, plus the guarantee of at least one game against another power conference. Many ACC schools already do this.

Notre Dame's commitment of five ACC games per year lessens the pressure to jump to a nine-game format, which the Pac-12 and Big 12 already use. The Big Ten will begin a nine-game schedule in 2016.

The SEC gives the ACC a de facto partner in the eight-game model, so neither would be on an island going into the College Football Playoff era.

The ACC also will discuss the possibility of scrapping divisions.

The decision must be considered through the prizm of Playoff leverage and a potential ACC Channel, which is on hold while its long-term partner ESPN launches the SEC Network in August.

Perhaps nine games gives a channel more attractive conference matchups, but SEC officials argue its league has more inventory with eight because of the guarantee of seven annual home games for most teams along with the emergence of neutral-site games. The ACC could take this approach if its non-conference schedules are stout.

While an eight-game schedule draws the ire of the Pac-12, the Big 12 seems indifferent to the discussion.

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[TerryP]

It's my opinion we're going to see a lot of "posturing" coming from the Big5 writers and coaches—whomever they can catch that are willing to speak—on scheduling this week.

What strikes me as interesting is this mention of Clemson and FSU standing against the nine-game schedule. Both carry annual OOC games, which makes their stance make sense, but on the other hand it reminds me of the Big12 and how Texas and Oklahoma push their weight around.

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

The future of the ACC conference schedule is the hot topic at the league's spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., this week. On Monday, commissioner John Swofford officially recommended an eight-game conference schedule with a requirement to play one power conference team, or Notre Dame, every season.

"Our schools discussed this at great length over the last year or two. Over the two, three sessions you could see some consistency in the discussion and where this was probably leading," Swofford told CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd.

"Our schools in recent years have probably had the strongest non-conference schdule out there. Having Notre Dame as a part of our scheduling rotation puts us in a little different situation with the other conferences. Certainly that came into play as well."

CBSSports.com's Jeremy Fowler first reported Sunday night that league officials have been asked to consider a model simlar to the SEC, and the 8+1 model proposed by Swofford on Monday makes it sound like the ACC is headed in that direction.

Fowler noted that Notre Dame's requirement to play five ACC opponents per year make it less likely that the league will move to a nine-game schedule, and Swofford echoed that stance in his comments on Monday. This new model, in theory, still addresses the concerns of those looking to boost the ACC's strength of schedule in the College Football Playoff era.

The new scheduling model will require very little adjustment for most ACC schools, and none at all for Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech thanks to their annual rivalary games against in-state SEC opponents. In fact, per David Teel of the Daily Press, 12 of the 14 ACC schools will meet the proposed requirement in 2014.

The model won't be put to a vote until later in the week, and there are still several unanswered questions. As of Monday, Swofford was unsure if other independent schools like Army, Navy and BYU would count as a power conference foe.

The scheduling model does not rule out scheduling FCS opponents, but the commissioner said they might address that in the future depending on the results of the College Football Playoff.

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[BAMANEWSBOT]

Sports Illustrated—Continue reading...