need to sacrifice 1 of its spots in the "4" group in order for the rotating group of "6" to work. As a result, it could lead to an increase in "forced rivalries" (aka VT's "Godfather" rivalry with Fredo) in lieu of having more "natural rivalries." Plus, that could lead to more unbalanced groups of 6 when you consider the ACC (minus SMU) is already set up with "natural pairings" to ensure each group of 6 has a representative (if possible). Natural Pairings Fredo - Syracuse Pitt - L'ville (aka Ohio River Valley Rivalry) UVA - VT Duke - Wake UNC - NC State Clemson - GT FSU - Miami Cal - Stanford SMU - ???? Depending on the team's 4 protected games and the impact that has on the pairings, VT could end up with both FL schools in 1 group instead of having a FL school in each group. Likewise, VT could end up with 3 NC schools in 1 group instead of 2 in each group. Where that could matter is by having 2 NC schools in a group, VT could always play 1 at home and 1 away in a given year. In some ways that was the beauty of the formula I had created because I could factor in the 6 division games when factoring in potential pairings for the other 6 teams in the division. For example, because GT and Miami were in VT's divisions, I could pair Clemson and FSU together. By doing that I could manipulate the schedule so VT would always play Clemson or FSU at the opposite venue of wherever they were scheduled to play GT (for Clemson) or Miami (for FSU) for that year. It basically guaranteed that VT or most of the other schools should never play Clemson/GT or FSU/Miami both at home or away in the same season. Likewise, the 4 NC schools were always guaranteed to play 2 other NC schools every year and the third NC school every other year. Also, that third NC school would be paired with UVA or VT, which ever VA school wasn't in their division, and still set it up so they played 1 VA at home and 1 VA away in the years they don't play the third NC school. Basically the goal I established for this meaningless exercise was to accomplish 2 things: 1. Create a schedule for every ACC school that would allow them to always play at least 1 team from a state or region (think Clemson/GT, OH River Valley Rivalry, or Fredo/Syracuse) every year. 2. If teams play 2 teams from the same state/region, then they will always play 1 at home and 1 away.