One ACC division would give Syracuse football better scheduling balance
By Neil Adler
Syracuse football would get to play a larger variety of Atlantic Coast Conference teams if the league elected to have one division.
Syracuse football and its Atlantic Coast Conference peers will suit up in one league division, rather than two, as part of the conference’s 2020 scheduling model released a few days ago.
The league’s 14 members, plus Notre Dame for the upcoming season only, will compete in 10 conference games each, as well as one non-conference battle.
Yet assuming the fall stanza does transpire amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, there always exists the possibility that ACC officials could consider continuing on with one division in the future, if the reception to this kind of model is favorable.
Nate Mink of Syracuse.com noted in an article that ‘Cuse Athletic Director John Wildhack and other ADs in the league have supported making slight changes to the present system “so that schools face each other with more regularity.”
Prior to this football campaign, the Orange has played within the Atlantic division, along with Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, N.C. State and Wake Forest.
The Coastal division, meanwhile, encompasses Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
As Mink points out, the ‘Cuse goes toe to toe with most of the Coastal division squads, other than Pittsburgh, “once every six years. It travels to those places once every 12 years.”
“That doesn’t make sense to me,” Wildhack said in the Syracuse.com story. “If we’re part of a conference, we should play more frequently.”
I totally concur with Wildhack’s assessment. I’m all for trying to build up rivalries for the Orange, like perhaps against Boston College and Louisville, but it would also prove cool if the ‘Cuse matched up with greater regularity versus units including Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
Athletic directors in the ACC haven’t discussed getting rid of the two-division composition, but that could change, Wildhack said.
“I say not yet because I think potentially down the road that may come up for discussion,” he said, according to Syracuse.com. “I think it’ll be interesting to see how one division, 15 schools plays out this year with our fans. It could open the door.”