(04-24-2013 09:07 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote: (04-24-2013 10:05 AM)nzmorange Wrote: Going based on geography is dumb because 1) it ruins any chance of the southern schools A) meeting in a championship game and B) playing multiple times in a season, which means that FSU and Clemson will have less opportunities to play GT and Miami with geographic divisions, 2) it riuns the chance of any given southern school making a championship game because as of right now, 2/4 can make it, but if they were all in one division, only 1/4 could make it, and 3) FSU, Clemson, Miami, and GT all have an opportunity to play all 3 of the other southern schools AT LEAST once a year in UNDER a 9 game "conference" schedule (8.8333... game yearly schedule), AND all 4 schools have an opportunity to make one of their harderst "conference" games not count towards the conference standings 83% of the time.
As of right now, GT, Clemson, FSU, and Miami could have ALL of their major conference rivals on their schedule AND .1666...7 more yearly OOC games than ANY other school in ANY other major conference. They also have relatively easy walk to a championship game and an opportunity to play 2/3 of their rivals a 2nd time in that game, which will either be held in NC (which touches GA and SC), or FL (which touches GA and is where UF and Miami are). But beyond that, a school like GT could have one conference loss (to someone other than UNC), lose to FSU "OOC", and still beat out a one-loss UNC for a spot in the division championship game, even though they would have 2 losses to ACC teams and UNC would only have 1 loss.
The fact that it doesn't work out that way is a matter for the AD's of those four schools, not the conference. Going to a 9 game schedule (even one with 2 protected rivalries) or geographic divisions would actually screw FSU, GT, Miami, and CU. At the very least, they would either lose games against each other, or they would lose OOC games, and their conference records would take a hit.
Championship game rematches are ratings and attendance and fan interest losers.
Geographic divisions never hurt the Big 12 (which is just as south heavy in football as the ACC) or the SEC (which has flip flopped from very east heavy to very west heavy).
The Big XII had Nebraska in the north. Unless you see either ND or PSU joining, there is no Nebraska in the ACC north. I love Syracuse, we aren't the Nebraska of the 90's, and neither is Pitt, BC, VPI, UL, UVA, or anyone else in the northeast. Nebraska, has the longest sellout streak in the nation and fielded the best teams ever (i.e. "the children of the corn") when they were in the Big XII.
The SEC is extremely balanced and always has been, both in terms of quality of play and recruiting. Putting FSU, Miami, GT, and Clemson isn't even close to being balanced. The best two teams in the ACC are FSU and Clemson, and Miami has more potential than almost any other school in the nation, if not literally every school in the nation. How would you even begin to balance that out? Or how do you even begin to balance out the fact that Florida, especially south Florida, is only rivaled by Texas and California in terms of producing quality football players.
It may be true that rematches are bad for ratings and attendance, but one-sided games are worse (
see OB, last year's ACCCCG, and just about every body bag game ever played).
Anyway, being able to say that the only thing between your team and a CCG is one high level team, two medium-level teams, and 3 lower level teams is a great recruiting tool.
Honestly, it would be one thing is the ACC played a 9 game schedule and FSU, Miami, GT, and Clemson didn't play each other every year, but that isn't the case. You
can play every single one of your in-conference rivals every year and still have a schedule that is shorter than the schedule of any team in any other power conference.
I am personally all for a 9-2 schedule, but it would cost FSU, Clemson, GT, and Miami OOC games. Thats' great for the rest of the conference, but I have absolutely no idea why those schools would want it.
It's like being in the same division. I really, really don't think that you actually want that. Correct me if I'm wrong and you really do want to finish 3rd place* in your division the vast majority of years, but I think that you just want yearly games against Clemson, Miami, and FSU, so why go after a fly with a bazooka? Why lose the ability to tell GA recruits that if they come to GT, they can play in a conf. championship game, whereas if they go to UGA, they will have to beat out Tennessee (who is admittedly down right now, but will be back soon), Florida, and USCarolina?
*This isn't a shot at GT, I'm just assuming that FSU wins the division virtually every year and GT, Miami, and Clemson take turns being #2, so that in an average year, each is #3.
EDIT:
As it stands right now, GT could have Clemson, FSU, Miami, UGA, Pitt, Virginia Tech, UNC and ND on its schedule every 3rd year. Assuming that you play a FCS team or a Sun Belt team for a cheap home game and an easy win, you are left with Duke, UVA, and one random ACC team in the other division. That isn't a bad schedule at all. Even Florida has to play Vandy and Kentucky, and Alabama has to play 'Ole Miss and MSU.
FSU could have Clemson, Miami, GT, UL, UF, ND, NCSU, and a OOC team every 3rd year. That leaves 1 ACC coastal team (50% chance of VT, UNC, or Pitt, and a 17% chance of an extra OOC game of their choosing - 67% chance of something good happening), Wake Forest (who isn't any good, but still managed to go to an ACC championship game a couple of years ago), Syracuse (who I really don't think is bad - we were very good in the 50's and 60's, very bad in the 70's, very good in the 80's and 90's, and very bad in the 00's, but we seem to be getting a lot better now - btw, see a pattern?), and Boston College (who is terrible right now, but was good enough to go to an ACC championship game a couple of years ago). That's 3.33 "bad" games out of a 12 game schedule, and that's counting SU and BC as bad games. Like I said earlier, even Florida has Vandy and Kentucky every year (2/12 bad games).