If the ACC could reallign, how would you do it?

by BirdGT on Sep 2, 2010 9:46 AM EDT

By a dynamic win percentage that realligns the conference every season? By stadium size? By athletic budget? Here's how it would look if we split it up by stadium size:

Atlantic - FSU (84,300), Miami (76,500), UVA (61,500), NC State (57,583), Maryland (54,000), Duke (33,941)
Coastal - Clemson (80,301), VT (66,233), UNC(60,000), Georgia Tech (55,000), Boston College (44,500), Wake (31,500)

Or what about by geography?

North - BC, Maryland, VT, UVA, Duke, Wake
South - Miami, FSU, GT, Clemson, UNC, NC State

What rivalries should be preserved? What are destinations of interest? I personally only like traveling to Boston, Miami, Raleigh, and Atlanta. The other cities are relatively dull, to me.

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by geography

any other realignment would look just as random as the current divisional arrangment.

by Joe Hamilton's Chauffeur on Sep 2, 2010 10:44 AM EDT reply actions

When they were talking about

a giant national realignment into superconferences, here’s what I thought would happen:

Big Ten (11) sucks in 5 Big 12 teams —> 16 teams total
Pac-10 sucks in 6 Big 12 Teams —> 16 total
SEC Sucks in 4 ACC Teams (Climpson, Tech, Miami, Fla St, VT…pick 4) —> 16 total
ACC (now at 8) and Big East (8) merge —> 16 total

So you’d end up with the Big 16, the Pac 16, the SixteenEC, and the Big ACC.

But as far as ACC realignment, eh, I think the main goal would be to balance it out more. There are currently only 7 teams in any given year that people would pick to win the conference (Tech, VT, Miami, UNC, Florida State, Climpson, and BC), and CU and BC are trending downward for the moment. Meaning you have 4 legit contenders from the Coastal, and only the one from the Atlantic, Fla St. So, you would just want to balance it better. My proposition:

SEC Sucks – GT, Clemson, Miami, FSU, Duke, Wake
Damned Yankees – VT, BC, UNC, Maryland, NC State, UVA

That’s what I would call them, anyways.

by LilBroey700 on Sep 2, 2010 11:36 AM EDT reply actions

Geography is built for the long-hual

It’s the best way to do it longterm, unless you wanted to go “Inland” versus “Waterfront” (West – East)…which might not go so well.

Inland – GT, VT, FSU, Clemson, Wake, UVA
Waterfront – Miami, BC, Maryland, UNC, NC State, Duke

At the moment, though, your North division would be VT’s pile of chew toys. At least the “Tech Bowl” could be for the ACC Championship.

All things considered, I think you boost fan attendance by playing the teams closest to you (read – “the teams you’ll have coworker rivalries with”, etc.) Heck, I feel no need to play BC ever. I just don’t think they view college football the same way up there in Boston as we do down here. Gimme rabid Southern fans from Clemson, FSU and VT over “we’re waiting for hockey season” BC and Maryland or “we’re northeasterners living on the southern tip of democracy” Miamians.

by GT_Jason on Sep 2, 2010 11:50 AM EDT reply actions

So maybe a geographic schedule

where you have teams in proximity on a constant schedule while teams further away rotate into your schedule instead…that would be tough to figure out but incredibly interesting.

I write stuff From the Rumble Seat.

by BirdGT on Sep 2, 2010 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

What about alphabetically?

Teams whose common names fall toward the front of the alphabet could be in one group, teams whose names fall toward the back in the second group.

Group One: Georgia Tech, FSU, Clemson, Boston College, Duke, Maryland

Group Two: Virginia Tech, Miami, UNC, NC State, Wake, UVA

Obviously I am being silly but note how evenly balanced the two divisions are.

by Atlanta's original team on Sep 2, 2010 12:31 PM EDT reply actions

I'm liking this one

more and more and more.

by Atlanta's original team on Sep 3, 2010 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Wasn't the original alignment optimized for a TV Championship

i.e. ’Da U vs. Free Shoes University?

Unfortunately, the formerly National Championship character of those teams hasn’t lived up to the potential of an ACC Championship.

We’ve had a few duds based on this alignment (GT vs Wake) in the WORST GAME I EVER PAID MORE THAN THE FACE VALUE FOR A TICKET TO SEE.

It seems that the current alignment will usually get us a good rivalry Championship. GT vs. Clemmins, VT vs. anybody on their side. UNC vs. the District Attorney and NCAA.

We don’t have a burning rivalry that needs to be preserved (UM vs OSU) from playing twice in two weeks with this new alignment of the Big 10 for example.

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Sep 3, 2010 7:04 AM EDT reply actions

Florida teams must be split

There are two drivers in how to split the ACC into divisions.

1) Both divisions need to have exposure in Florida because of recruiting. That is the reason FSU and Miami are split. Seriously, would you want your team to be in the North Division and never play in Florida?

2) Miami and Boston College must be split because of travel costs. Again, who would want to be in a division where they had to make long expensive trips to Boston and Miami while the other division was much more compact (and could spend their money on recruiting and facilities instead).

That gives us Miami in one division, with FSU and Boston College in the other as the starting point for any discussions.

I’d be in favor of two permanent cross-division rivals, with FSU at home on the even years to help balance our home schedules.

by J W R on Sep 3, 2010 10:45 AM EDT reply actions