Syracuse Football: Conference shuffle back, what should be next for ACC?

Conference realignment is back in the news, how should the ACC respond, and where does Syracuse football fit in moving forward?

The winds of conference realignment change are blowing once again, and how it may affect Syracuse football remains unclear. Texas and Oklahoma kickstarted the 2021 edition of the conference shuffle, but they will almost certainly not be the last of the teams to move.

Ten years ago, when the Big East was on its last legs as a football power, schools were frantically looking for lifeboats to remain within a power conference. Fortunately, the Syracuse Orange (along with Pitt) managed to find a home within the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Now, opinions will vary widely as to the move and how, athletically, SU’s fortunes have changed since it happened, but one thing is indisputable. It was a financial salvation.

Now, here we are again. Now that the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has gobbled up two premier programs in Texas and Oklahoma, it appears that the Big 12 may be the new Big East and once again find itself ripe to be raided.

And if the Big Ten and the SEC are, in fact, intent on taking up an arms race moving forward, where does that leave the ACC, the conference that, geographically, largely resides between the two?

Unfortunately, I believe that the ACC, at the present time is vulnerable (in no small part due to Notre Dame’s refusal to commit to full membership), and unfortunately for Syracuse fans, I think that a failure of the ACC would be extremely dangerous for the future of Syracuse football.

Syracuse has not demonstrated the consistent product that is attractive to outside conferences. If we move to a world of 2 or 3 breakaway 20-team conferences of power teams, there is a real possibility that Syracuse could be left out of that mix.

The other thing that could potentially make Syracuse football an attractive option would be if there was a belief that it could deliver a large media market. However, despite the efforts by former AD Daryl Gross to brand Syracuse University as New York’s College Team (one of the rare efforts out of Gross I actually applauded for this very reason), it never really took, and that marketing effort has long since been abandoned.

At this point, the best interests for Syracuse football rest in the ACC continuing to survive and thrive as a competitive football conference. So…what can the ACC do to help solidify and protect itself, in the short term at the very least? Here is where I would start.

The 15th “member”…and who should be the 16th?

The Conference currently stands at 14 full members, with Notre Dame a 15th for all sports except for football, where it remains independent. First would be an almost annual ask of Notre Dame as to whether they would consider full ACC membership.

This will likely be declined quickly because the new playoff models being discussed allow for a pathway for them to maintain their independence and still compete for a national championship.

The second call I would make would be to West Virginia University.

West Virginia has long been far more interested in joining the ACC than the ACC has been in the Mountaineers. It’s time to reciprocate that interest and extend an invite. There are no untapped big media markets that are going to suddenly magically become available to the ACC.

Instead, the key needs to be about building as strong a football conference as possible, and one that creates intriguing matchups that will gain television viewers.

West Virginia is a solid, annually bowl-caliber program. It comes to the table with a slew of existing and potential new regional rivalries that would immediately garner interest. I know I, for one, would love to see the Schwartzwalder Trophy taken out of retirement for a new annual Syracuse football matchup.

If invited and accepted, West Virginia would become the 15th full ACC member. The 16th football spot would remain available, for now, if Notre Dame should ever want it.

Bring on the Pods

Part and parcel with the addition of a 15th football program would be an aggressive realignment of the conference. I would propose a lean mean pod platform that encourages geographic and traditional rivalries. Here’s what I am thinking:

ACC North (aka the old Big East)

• Syracuse
• BC
• Pitt
• WVU
• Virginia Tech

ACC Central

• Duke
• UNC
• Wake Forest
• Virginia
• NC State

ACC South

• Florida State
• Miami
• Georgia Tech
• Clemson
• Louisville

In this structure, you would play your pod every year. That’s four games. You would play a “natural rival” from another division every year for a fifth game. And then you would play the two teams in each division that finished in the same spot in the divisional standings as your team each year.

That creates a robust 7-game schedule with ample opportunity for non-conference scheduling. The two highest-ranked divisional winners would play in the Conference championship game.

This conference would certainly not be immune from future plundering. But it would be stronger and better positioned than it is at present and would, I believe, generate the interest needed to deliver a television package strong enough to keep the current members home, at least for now.

Long term, more may need to be done (a potential partnership with the Pac-12 to deliver a bi-coastal alliance perhaps?), but this is the best short-term strategy, and one that would serve the Conference, and by extension Syracuse football, well.