ACC Realignment on the Horizon?

Via Warchant.com and quite a number of other sites, word is filtering out around the web that the ACC may re-align its football divisions.  This would presumably happen when the current ACC football schedule expires in 2015.

Boston College and Maryland would be moving from the Atlantic to the Coastal with Miami and Georgia Tech moving from the Coastal to the Atlantic.  If so, an ACC North and an ACC South would essentially be created…and ironically UNC and Duke would become members of the northern contingent and State and Wake being part of the southern side of the league.

Gobblercountry.com
Here’s what the re-aligned ACC would look like:

ACC Atlantic (ACC South, aka the Rebel Division)
Florida State
Miami (FL)
Georgia Tech
Clemson
NC State
Wake Forest

ACC Coastal (ACC North, aka the Damn Yankee Division)
Boston College
Virginia Tech
North Carolina
Duke
Virginia
Maryland

WARNING: this is nothing but a rumor at this point, albeit a widespread one that seems to have some legs.  We’re just passing it on for your consideration.

I do have reason to question the rumor’s accuracy, because if it comes to pass in this form,  the possibility of Miami and Florida State meeting in an ACC Championship (aka John Swoffford’s Wet Dream) would be impossible.  That alone makes me wonder if this will happen.

Future Opponents General

50 Responses to ACC Realignment on the Horizon?

  1. packbackr04 03/11/2009 at 12:56 PM #

    you have got to be kidding me

  2. pakfanistan 03/11/2009 at 1:04 PM #

    The conspiracy theorist in me wants to call this protectionism for UNC.

  3. waxhaw 03/11/2009 at 1:04 PM #

    I don’t understand the rationale at all, unless it is to try and make UNC’s road to the ACC championship game even easier.

    My guess is that if realignment happens, we won’t get to play Duke for another 5 year span in the middle.

    The new “North” would have Duke, BC, Virginia and Maryland, which would probably be the 4 worst teams in the league (assuming Wake doesn’t have a coaching change).

    There is no way we should support this as long as the ACC keeps their dumb ass bowl rule of not skipping due to ACC records.

  4. Texpack 03/11/2009 at 1:08 PM #

    When the divisional alignment impacts basketball scheduling, I will care. I still think the “superconferences” are bad for college sports because they jack with a lot of rivalries that have existed for decades. Rivalries are the best part of the college game, whether it is basketball or football.

  5. zahadum 03/11/2009 at 1:08 PM #

    Doesn’t make much sense to me either. You’d have the good division and the VT and the bums division.

  6. LKNpackfan 03/11/2009 at 1:09 PM #

    The Coastal would become an absolute joke if this were to happen.

  7. wufpup76 03/11/2009 at 1:14 PM #

    *sigh* … Why?

  8. ppack3 03/11/2009 at 1:14 PM #

    Actually, this alignment has its cool points. But, the ACC Championship Game would not have as many attractive match-up possibilities (wet dream or not). I do like the North/South aspect, and our division would be STACKED, but The Ewe (among others in the North) would have a pretty charitable path to the ACC title game (where most of them would then be destroyed). AND, this re-alignment allows us to separate ourselves from the two, blue transplant universities down the road. I can appreciate that aspect of making the switch. 🙂

  9. Pack Leader 03/11/2009 at 1:18 PM #

    This cant go through

  10. ncsslim 03/11/2009 at 1:29 PM #

    We have a unique view of this realignment. We see it as totally imbalanced due to what we KNOW is our imminent rise to prominence. Most of the others see us as “Duke in Red”.

    I honestly don’t see a major difference. BC and UMd have both been historical pains-in-the-ass for us, as GaT has. The one most would think as scariest, UM, not so much. But I guess based on the past, every game is a pain-in-the-ass.

    Realign as you wish and bring ’em on, mf’ers…. The Pack is Back, but 2015 is a long time away in football years.

  11. howlie 03/11/2009 at 1:29 PM #

    Bottom line, TWELVE in a conference is just a problematic number for both football and basketball. The NCAA now needs to require conferences to go to SIXTEEN members–then you play everyone in your conference division [twice, of course, in Basketball]; and you’re left with a good ratio of remaining OOC games.

    Which the much smaller number of conferences [overall]; you would then be poised for a football championship playoff; and, the NCAA bb tournament could be reduced back down 32 or 48 teams… strengthening the NIT.

  12. buttPACKer 03/11/2009 at 1:52 PM #

    that is f****d, if true. . . it really makes our job of getting to the top of our division difficult, while UNC’s only real roadblock is VT!

  13. choppack1 03/11/2009 at 1:57 PM #

    Any realignment should be done by trying to juggle the twin priorities of maintaining natural rivalries while keeping both leagues relatively balanced.

    The proposed alignment above does make sense geographically, but you are merging some natural rivals into the same conference, and it would appear that the “North” division, is weaker once again. Then again, TOB is undefeated against UNC and Duke’s conference in two years…We’d replace what I think is the best non-college football road trip w/ another pretty cool destination..

  14. sautz 03/11/2009 at 2:08 PM #

    Here are Gobbler’s guesses at divison rivalry games:

    BC —–> CU
    DU —–> WF
    MD —–> GT
    NC —–> NCST
    VA —–> FSU
    VT —–> UM

    I think it would be more like
    BC – UM (duh)
    Du – WF
    NC – NCSU

    After that they don’t make much sense. There are a lot of “liberal art” schools in Coastal and “engineering” schools in Atlantic…
    VT – CU (or GT or FSU?)
    MD – CU?
    Va – FSU?

  15. BJD95 03/11/2009 at 2:55 PM #

    They could re-title this the “Screw Over NC State, We’ll Show Them Who’s the Best Program in North Carolina!!!!!” plan.

    This would be followed by kicking VT out and adding Syracuse to the “Butch Davis Wet Dream” division.

  16. choppack1 03/11/2009 at 3:07 PM #

    BJD – It’s worth noting that the State division contains the 4 ACC schools w/ best overall football tradition.

    If this comes to be, VaTech and UNC are the huge beneficiaries. I mean, this can’t be right can it? I guess all they’re really done is moved BC and UMd, Miami and GT.

    Of course, the overall decay in the quality of programs at the “U” and FSU probably means that this division isn’t as tough as it would have been in say, 1988.

    Bottom line: There are 4 ACC schools that have won national championship(s) – and they are all in one division. I’d wonder if this could be serious or not, but I really don’t put anything by Swofford and his minions and we all know that Lee doesn’t give a damn.

  17. jaybird80 03/11/2009 at 3:14 PM #

    Seems like I heard / read / imagined that another aspect of the realignment would involve having the two teams with the best overall record going the the ACC Championship game. This would keep alive the FSU vs. Miami possiblity (or NC State vs. Clemson). Also, there was talk of moving the championship game to the home field of the team with the best record. None of this seems like a good idea to me, but with TOB in charge, we really should not care.

  18. Noah 03/11/2009 at 3:35 PM #

    People forget that what’s now is not forever. When the league expanded, everyone thought we’d be getting two Miami-FSU games (one at the beginning and one in the championship game).

    So far…that’s never happened.

    Once Beamer leaves VPI, the Hokies will go back to being the sorry-ass team they always were. Once Groh gets fired, UVa should be much better. Butch Davis won’t be at UNC in 2015. Hell, TOB won’t be at State, I would guess.

  19. redfred2 03/11/2009 at 3:42 PM #

    I don’t see all the fuss, everybody knows that Chapel Hill has always been comfortably situated above Raleigh.

  20. choppack1 03/11/2009 at 3:55 PM #

    jaybird – I’d like to see that. Each team has a certain # of rivals and play the rest on a rotating scale. Of course, you’d need some kind of weighted scale as a tie-braker after head to head – like whose schedule had the best record.

  21. BJD95 03/11/2009 at 3:57 PM #

    If you don’t care about competitive balance anymore, make a “classic” division with State, Carolina, Duke, Wake, UVA, and either MD or Clemson.

    Noah’s point is taken, but the three programs that should be the best (from an institutional standpoint) are FSU, GT, and Clemson. The three weakest should be Duke, BC, and Wake.

    Can’t have all 3 of either category in the same division. Period.

    And the “2 best overall records in title game” double screws the stronger division. If there are only 2 decent teams (VT and UNC), and they play a weak schedule while the other division beats each other up – you’ll see lots of VT/UNC title games (short term).

  22. TheCOWDOG 03/11/2009 at 4:18 PM #

    The Mayans would tell ya’ll not to be concerned for the year 2015. 🙂

    I think it was Noah that first mentioned the uncertainty of the landscape 6 years from now. It was the very first thing that came into this brickhead noggin’ when I saw the rumor and the potential date of polar realignment.

    It’s no big deal. Ebb and flow, State just has to be responsible for itself.

    I do rather like the ” Classic ” division, but who gets ousted. Clemson or Md?

  23. ppack3 03/11/2009 at 4:43 PM #

    Cowdog – The Mayan Calendar simply starts over, in a new cycle, in 2012. So, maybe we should schedule the ACC re-alignment with the astrological rebirth, rather than 2015? I need a nap.

  24. redfred2 03/11/2009 at 4:54 PM #

    “I do rather like the ” Classic ” division, but who gets ousted. Clemson or Md?”

    unc, of course. They’re already too big for that “homer” league anyway.

  25. john of sparta 03/11/2009 at 5:05 PM #

    “in this Economy” has replaced
    “for the children”….
    to justify about anything.
    while we’re at it:
    how about making Greensboro
    the Permanent Home for the
    ACC MBB Tournament?
    “for the economy.”
    ok, i got carried away.

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