(12-08-2018 04:25 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote: I'm cognizant of the fact that this is in all certainly a no go but I think there is some merit to adding UCF and USF to the ACC:
Large and growing residential student populations
Large media markets
Football successes for both programs
Opportunity to have 4 programs in Florida
You could format into pods with a Florida school in each pod to increase each school's exposure in the sunshine state. Every school in the conference would be guaranteed an annual road trip to Florida--be it their FL divisional opponent or the FL school in the pod that makes up their division that year:
Pod 1: FSU, Clemson, WF, NC St
Pod 2: Miami, GT, UNC, Duke
Pod 3: USF, VT, UVA, L'ville
Pod 4: UCF, Pitt, BC, Cuse
Rotate the pods into divisions like the 1996-1998 WAC did. With the 8th conference game play any traditional rival not in your pod that year. Examples include:
Miami-FSU
GT-Clemson
UCF-USF
UVA-UNC
Duke-WF
UNC-NC St
If there's an opponent that doesn't appear in the rotation that you'd like to play you can always schedule OOC.
Not that I think adding UCF/USF is likely or even a good idea, but here's a better alignment. Pods are more balanced while still retaining one Florida school each. Eight conference games, pods rotate between 2 divisions in a 3-year cycle. Each team has a protected crossover it plays annually and an alternate crossover for years in which the team shares a division with its protected crossover (alternate is played 2 years out of 3).
School: Protected crossover, Alternate crossover
Pod 1
Boston College: Louisville, NC State
Miami-FL: Florida State, Georgia Tech
Syracuse: Pittsburgh, Wake Forest
Virginia Tech: Virginia, Central Florida
Pod 2
Louisville: Boston College, North Carolina
Georgia Tech: Clemson, Miami-FL
Pittsburgh: Syracuse, Duke
Central Florida: South Florida, Virginia Tech
Pod 3
North Carolina: NC State, Louisville
Florida State: Miami-FL, Clemson
Duke: Wake Forest, Pittsburgh
Virginia: Virginia Tech, South Florida
Pod 4
NC State: North Carolina, Boston College
Clemson: Georgia Tech, Florida State
Wake Forest: Duke, Syracuse
South Florida: Central Florida, Virginia
I couldn't swing an annual Duke/GT game, and Clemson/FSU is played every 2 years out of 3 instead of annually, but otherwise the important rivalries have been preserved.