BCI posted two good schedule-related articles Thursday. The first deals with Elon dropping BC from their 2015 schedule. Like Brian, I am not worried about finding an opponent and hopefully we will try a FCS free schedule for a change. The second issue covered was how the ACC-Notre Dame schedule works. Long story short, the ACC continues to bend over backwards for the Irish and BC won't play them that often. The Irish issue leads to a host of other questions, but the biggest remains who will the ACC teams without traditional non-conference rivalries play to fill their power conference requirement? Brian hints at readdressing a 9th game. However, the conference can't do that...at least not for a while.
The 9th ACC game should only be an emergency move. Because other than adding another team, the 9th game is one of the last playing cards the ACC has to reopen its TV deal. Those new ACC games would be new, valuable content to ESPN and our other TV partners.
The other reason to wait on the 9th game is because no one really knows how the playoff selections will work. The ACC -- with its 8-game conference slate, Championship game and challenging non-conference schedules -- may be a manageable path to the playoffs. Why add a 9th game as yet another playoff hurdle? Then and if the selection committee punishes the ACC's conference schedule than the Conference can expand the schedules.
I am not concerned about BC and the ACC's place in the landscape of the Playoff. Once we are good enough, the conferences will finaly know how to get teams into the Dance. For now, let's hope the 2015 scheduling mess finally gets solved.
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5 comments:
Unlike the big 10, the ACC foolishly took the bait from Our Lady of Special Deals, so of course we are left w/ a mess as a result. It will hurt not playing 9 league games, but that will be mitigated to a degree by having a title game unlike the Big 12. Now that we are stuck w/ the ND deal the best way to fix it is to bring another team into the league, UCONN,CINCI? Scrap the div. system have every team w/ 2 traditional rivals, play the other teams every other year, and have a clean 3 yr rotation w/ the Fighting Crybabies.
The Big 10 made a huge effort to get ND in. ND foiled their plans of going to 16 with the Irish Syracuse, BC, Pitt and Rutgers thus dominating the Eastern tv market and finishing off the Big East as well as dominating the Midwestern market which they already do. ND is a financial and publicity windfall for the ACC. The only new team that could benefit the conference would be Penn. St.
Ned
Why would they leave for less $?
This is all just a prelude to the Big 5 breakaway.
It's coming.
The FCS schools are up a creek without a paddle, given the emphasis on schedule difficulty in the new playoff format.
I think eight games works, allowing for the transition to more inter-conference, likely early season showdowns to boost big program resumes. It's a win-win for fans. More quality, more variety, and more opportunity.
The intra-conference schedule doesn't mean much to me, since the conference I grew up watching is now a bloated, geographically skewed conglomeration of television markets. Maintaining a "rivalry" with Syracuse is fine, I guess, but the new world order is here to stay and save for a few historic rivalry games (say, UGA-Auburn here in the south), forcing new rivalries down our throats is as disingenuous as Alabama's "student" athlete-car relationship.
CT
I suggested the change to 2 rivalry games so the ACC could have a more balanced schedule and as a way to play non div. teams more frequently. I think it's stupid to play non league games against teams in your league as teams like Miami have suggested, because of the current scheduling constraints. In general though I agree w/ your premiss of where things are headed.
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