As the ACC prepares to expand in 2024, football scheduling will be central when league officials convene their fall meetings next week. Preserving essential rivalries, minimizing cross-country travel and reconfiguring Notre Dame’s docket of conference opponents are among the priorities. Stanford, California and Southern Methodist will bring ACC football membership to an awkward 17 — even numbers make for easier scheduling — and extend the league beyond the Eastern time zone for the first time since its 1953 founding. So with athletic directors, faculty reps, senior women’s administrators and senior minority administrators — those from the three newcomers will attend but not vote — set to huddle next Thursday and Friday with conference staff in Charlotte, North Carolina, here’s what we know. The basics: The ACC is drilling down on a seven-year, no-divisions rotation of opponents that will sustain an undetermined number of annual rivalries while limiting the 14 current members to three games each in California, preferably not in consecutive seasons. As since Florida State’s 1992 arrival, the conference schedule will be eight games. Why not nine with such a large group, like the Big Ten is doing with 18 teams? Because the math doesn’t work. To play an odd number of league games, you need an even number of teams. Using a five-year rotation, the Big Ten recently adopted a model that protects a dozen yearly contests, Ohio State-Michigan, USC-UCLA and Washington-Oregon included. The 12 pairings represent about 8% of the conference’s total matchups. A similar percentage for the ACC would equate to 11 annual pairings, though that’s hardly a magic number. The details: Unlike the four-year model the ACC adopted for 2023-26 but had to scrap after expanding, every program in the seven-year rotation would not have the same number of annual rivals. For example, North Carolina could have three (N.C. State, Duke and Virginia), while Louisville might have none — Penn State has no yearly matchup in the Big Ten’s format. Virginia Tech-Virginia is a given, but while VT-Miami would be welcomed, the Hokies may have no other annual opponent. Beyond those four — UVa-Virginia Tech and North Carolina vs. UVa, Duke and N.C. State — Florida State-Miami, Clemson-Florida State, Pitt-Syracuse and Cal-Stanford feel like absolutes, bringing the total to eight. But here’s the wild card: The mandate from ACC presidents that none of the current 14 programs play in California more than three times during the seven years gives Stanford and Cal only 42 of the 49 combined visits they need from the Eastern schools and SMU. This means SMU will play Cal and Stanford annually, one at home, one on the road. So now we’re at 10 yearly pairings. No matter that the Mustangs have minimal history — one game each — against the Cardinal and Golden Bears. Undefeated SMU lost the Jan. 1, 1936 Rose Bowl to Stanford and opened its 1957 season with a road conquest of Cal. Though unprotected in the four-year rotation approved in 2022, Wake Forest and N.C. State will meet for the 114th consecutive season next month and should make the cut this time. Others will advocate for Duke vs. N.C. State and/or Wake Forest, N.C. State-Clemson, Georgia Tech-Clemson and Syracuse-Boston College. The tradeoff is, more preserved rivalries translate into less-frequent editions of unprotected matchups such as Virginia Tech-N.C. State, Virginia-Duke and Clemson-Miami. But if the ACC lands on 10-15 annual matchups, teams will face every rotating opponent at least three times during the seven seasons. The Irish: Notre Dame is contracted to play, on average, five rotating ACC teams per year. That cycle is scheduled through 2037, with 70 dates remaining following this season. Each of the ACC’s 14 current programs has at least four games versus the Fighting Irish from 2024-37, with Miami at seven, Florida State and Pitt six apiece. Hence, the Hurricanes, Seminoles and Panthers seem the most likely candidates to shed some contests against Notre Dame as Cal and SMU are blended into the rotation. The pandemic 2020 season excepted, Stanford and Notre Dame have played annually since 1997. If the schools renew their series long-term — the Irish like to play each season in California, either at Stanford or USC — it seems unlikely those games would count toward their ACC obligations. The present: Florida State, North Carolina and Louisville are undefeated, with Duke and Miami also ranked. Moreover, that group is a combined 7-1 vs. nonconference, Power Five opponents, success that includes victories over LSU, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Notre Dame. Rarely has the ACC been this well-positioned as the regular season enters the second half. ** Edited by Maroon Baboon at 10/15/2023, 10:41:07 PM