This past Monday, the ACC announced that they would stay at an 8-game conference schedule. Then starting in 2017, teams must play one non-conference game against either Notre Dame or an opponent from one of the other major 5 conferences: SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac 12. Well what could make things interesting, is that some ACC schools are considering making their non-conference game against another ACC school. The game would not count as a conference game.
The main reason behind this is because teams in the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions could possibly only play each other every 11 years or so. This doesn’t include the permanent crossover rival from the other division that teams play every year. For example, Louisville’s crossover rival from the Coastal Division will be Virginia, so they will face each other every season. Miami is also in the Coastal Division. So after the opening game of the 2014 season, Louisville may not play Miami again until 2025. And we all know that Louisville vs Miami has the potential to be a great new rivalry.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Louisville already has a non-conference game against a team from one of the other 5 major conferences: Kentucky. Yes, believe it or not, that game actually counts for that stipulation.
But this would be very interesting if, in fact, Louisville were to schedule another ACC team in the regular season.
For more information on this, read the article on ESPN.com by Andrea Adelson and Brett McMurphy.
