The ACC has approved a nine-game league football schedule and 18 conference games for men’s and women’s basketball and has assigned newcomers Pittsburgh and Syracuse into divisions for football. They were among several scheduling formats made official Friday at a league meeting of athletic directors and faculty athletic representatives.
Pittsburgh will join Georgia Tech’s Coastal Division, while Syracuse will become part of the Atlantic. Those changes, as well as the nine-game league schedule, will go into place once those schools join the ACC from the Big East. It has yet to be determined when that will happen, but the schools are under contract to remain in the Big East through the 2013-14 academic year.
Each school will play its six division opponents with three crossover games, including its primary partner. Tech’s will remain Clemson.
The Coastal Division, including Tech, appears to be receiving the stronger football team in recent history. The Panthers have averaged 7.6 wins and made four bowl trips in the past five years, compared to 4.4 wins and one for the Orange. Over 10 years, Pitt has averaged 7.4 wins with seven bowl trips while Syracuse’s average is 4.3 wins with two bowl trips. Perhaps most tellingly, Pitt is 9-1 against Syracuse in the past 10 games, although Syracuse had won 11 in a row prior to that.
Since the league split into two divisions beginning with the 2005 season, the Atlantic is 69-64 against Coastal teams including ACC championship games.
In basketball, each member will have one primary partner. Tech’s will be Clemson. The other 12 opponents will rotate in groups of four. Each season, a team will play home and away with one group (eight games), home against another group (four games) and away against the last group (four games). Over a three-year cycle, primary partners will play each other six games and all the other members four times.
All 14 teams will compete in the men’s and women’s conference tournaments. The format was not released Friday.
The remaining team sports will continue to play each conference member at least once during the regular season with the exception of baseball. Like football, baseball is split into two divisions and teams do not play every conference opponent.
161 comments Add your comment
Robert
February 3rd, 2012
4:33 pm
Power Dawgs, you need a crash course in spelling. You screw up at least one word in every sentence.
Rick
February 3rd, 2012
4:42 pm
UCF a creampuff reebok? They would beat gt
Bo in North Carolina
February 3rd, 2012
4:51 pm
Big Time, that Scottish Rite game was great. I believe it was played on Thanksgiving. Also, the players visited the hospital the day before and came away impressed after visiting the children
Go Jackets!
February 3rd, 2012
4:59 pm
UCF has made tremendous strides with O’Leary as HC. I do believe Tech would compete and win.
Paul in NH
February 3rd, 2012
5:01 pm
Nice to see that we will finally be able to understand the b’ball schedule. It would have been nice to go to the system with 2 divisions with 7 teams in each – home and home in division and single games with the other division but that would have lead to an odd number (and 5 teams playing Duke and UNC 2x a year because Duke and UNC will ALWAYS play home and home)
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
5:05 pm
Enter your comments here
Delbert D.
February 3rd, 2012
5:06 pm
Georgia Tech went to the NCAA tournament in 1960, replacing Mississippi State, the SEC champions, who were prohibited by the state government from participating against integrated teams. Tech finished runner-up in the regional to Ohio State, the nation champions.
Jim 70
February 3rd, 2012
5:08 pm
If psu/Nd come into the league, it would be great to have psu, Nd, bc, Pitt, cuse, md, va and vt in the north and the Carolina (n/s)/ Florida schools and tech in the south.
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
5:09 pm
Jim 70, you left out Clemson. Where are you going to put them? In the south, I assume
Delbert D.
February 3rd, 2012
5:13 pm
I’d like to see Penn State in the ACC. They had traditional rivalries with Pitt and Maryland, and they were more of an Eastern team than a Midwestern team before they joined the Big Ten. When I lived in New Jersey in the late ’60s and again from ‘75 – ‘80, they got a lot of press coverage, along with Notre Dame.
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:17 pm
Hey Obviously,
Yes I saw Chip Towers’ story. My beef is with Schultz and Bradley, or did you not read that? THEY jump Tech as soon as they can, but will either of the 2 even acknowledge the latest events in Athens?
Probably not.
Skitty Fritty
February 3rd, 2012
5:18 pm
Is the ACC still in Division I?
West Virginia
February 3rd, 2012
5:20 pm
We Own the ACC !
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
5:20 pm
@ GT Lee, actually Jeff has had one up the better part of the day too. But he tries to put a positive spin on the whole thing in Athens, something he did not attempt at all in his blog on Spencer.
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:22 pm
Alright, I missed Schultz’ story- But I still don’t see Bradley rushing out to get a story!
Go Jackets!
February 3rd, 2012
5:26 pm
GT Lee, they do their best.
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:29 pm
yeah, I know….just seemed real skewed this week the way they rushed out to write negative recruiting stories about Tech on Natl signing day, but it seems like they aren’t in a hurry to report any negativity in Athens……
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
5:29 pm
@ GT Lee, to be somewhat fair, even though they don’t deserve it, jeff and mark rotate from day to day on various coverages…..or at least,that’s what they claim
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:34 pm
Reckon we can get Tech to offer a journalism degree so we can get some decent coverage?? LOL
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
5:36 pm
I think you know the answer to that. lol
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:38 pm
Calculus would still be a requirement…….!!!
Go Jackets!
February 3rd, 2012
5:39 pm
Would it be called Journalistic Engineering?
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
5:39 pm
LOL
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:43 pm
Alphabetic Engineering
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:44 pm
Alpha-Numeric Engineering
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:48 pm
Wonder how much coverage our top-10 baseball tean will get?
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
5:48 pm
team
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
6:08 pm
I have a question. Periodically some of the trolls come on here talking about Tech jocks taking courses at Morehouse. I know that several years ago, maybe as many as 20 years ago, that was proposed. Was it ever actually implemented, and if so, wasn’t it ultimately cancelled? Another proposal was to add a program of sports management or sports administration, but that was never implemented.
Really?
February 3rd, 2012
6:33 pm
Smart move by the acc going to a 9 game schedule. Having to play another weak acc school instaed of a team from any other conference at all means one less guaranteed loss a year.
Really?
February 3rd, 2012
6:39 pm
Every other paper, sports site, tv and radio outlet etc… reports CMR dismissing three Georgia players as a testament to Richts ethics and desire to keep his program clean. The ajc tries to put a negative as possible spin on it which is understandable and you texties are still whineing about it. LOL LOL LOL
Face it whine bags, ga text was nailed again while on probation and now your cheating program and it’s cadre or liar coaches will have to take their punishment.
gt lee does that top 10 baseball team still have the drunken player who was endangering lifes in downtown atlanta last season?
RDM1975
February 3rd, 2012
6:42 pm
This is coming from an FSU fan and alumnus who hates this stupid conference anyway, but speaking as a fully submitted slave of tobacco road now…..
“Yeah!!!!! We get to have the two most northern schools in our division of play. And since we most often see them on Thursday nights, this plan works out GREAT. I hope that both BC and ‘Cuse will be Thursday night games. Playing Saturday night games at FSU is overrated and something from the past. Night time games is reserved for the big boys like the SEC, Big 12 and Big 10. Us girls don’t need to be up that late. Have to hit that library if we want to hopefully be an AAU school, just like our masters are in North Carolina.”
Once again FSU got screwed. We get screwed in scheduling, we get screwed in officiating (since no one in the ACC knows how to call football games, being a basketball conference only, you know), and now we get screwed again in divisional alignment.
Hope that YES vote was worth it President Barron. Hope you are happy that you are single handedly shooting your money-maker in the foot. The decreased revenue you have seen with FSU over the past few years wasn’t because of the economy. It’s because we don’t want to be in the ACC anymore. No one wants to sit through watching another North Carolina school come to Tallahassee to play football. And the ACC has already showed it does not know how to hang with the big boys in BCS play. Yeah, we have the #2 recruiting class this year, but big freakin deal. If they get bored, which they will, they will regret signing for FSU as their friends in the SEC enjoy national recognition by playing on Saturday and at night.
THANK YOU to Sandspr87 from ESPN.com blogs, I am so glad to FINALLY hear a North Carolina person FINALLY admit that this conference was created around the rivalries with North Carolina schools. Finally, someone has the balls to admit that the ACC is a conference of North Carolina schools, by North Carolina schools and for North Carolina schools. (An aside….sounds an awful like the Big 12 problem/perception that the Longhorn Network and the Big 12 is of Texas, by Texas and for Texas….hmmmmm)
I finally submit to my masters in North Carolina. The Seminole tribe has finally been Conquered!!!! Long live ACC basketball. I will start buying basketball season tickets and will learn how to understand the sport that matters now. Oh wait, FSU is now playing better basketball than football. I guess, the ACC got what it wanted after all……..a complete and total break down of FSU football.
And before anyone hops on this to bash, remember what your mom always told you as a child, “If lie down with dogs, you pick up fleas,” meaning, you begin to pick up the habits of those you hang with. FSU had the opportunity to join the SEC in 1990 and shunned them like no one’s business for the ACC. No one even knew that South Carolina or Arkansas existed before they joined the SEC. It took them several years, but they LEARNED how to play football and have built a respectable program over the years. FSU was already an SEC worthy program in 1990, but we went the other direction. And we have now taken on the traits of those we hang with, mediocrity in football and brilliance in basketball.
I hope the Administration at FSU understands the ramifications of their recent actions. Statistics and numbers do not lie….decreased attendance at FSU football games, decreased revenue as a result, and poor showings in BCS bowls. And we STILL stay with this conference, even voting in favor of upping the buyout clause. Awesome job FSU. You have finally been able to do what Andrew Jackson couldn’t do hundreds of years ago….get the Seminole Nation to be Conquered! For 12,000 years the Seminoles have lived and thrived in Florida. We have fallen to the might of the Tobacco Road Mafia in North Carolina. RIP Seminoles of FSU (1947-2012)
1 4 GT
February 3rd, 2012
6:57 pm
“Strong Legs Run That Weak Legs May Walk”
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
7:00 pm
@Really?
Don’t know Really…You got a name to go with that accusation?
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
7:32 pm
GT Lee, there was ONE baseball player at Tech last year who was involved in a DUI in February, 2011. I don’t recall anybody making excuse for his actions. He was duly arrested and charged, as he should have been. His name is Matt Skole. Meanwhile UGA has NUMEROUS football players who assault their girlfriends, steal, have DUI’s, drive without licenses, etc, etc, etc. Somehow, Really? thinks one DUI at Tech is more important than ALL the offenses at UGA, which have included DUI’s. And lest Really? try to deny there have been any DUI’s at UGA, it was Cornelius Washington in October of 2011.
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
7:50 pm
Thanks Super,
Matt is playing for the Auburn Doubledays, class A affiliate of Wash Nats
GT Lee
February 3rd, 2012
7:51 pm
Hey Super,
wasn’t the UGA AD driving around ATL with a hooker and a crackpipe?
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
8:11 pm
@ GT Lee, oh yeah, I forgot about that one. Apparently Really? also CONVENIENTLY forgot about that one too.
BTW, did you see my question earlier about the Tech – Morehouse connection? Scroll back if you missed it. Do you know the answer?
Paul in NH
February 3rd, 2012
8:32 pm
Wow – got to love the FSU fan on here – especially this quote:
“The decreased revenue you have seen with FSU over the past few years wasn’t because of the economy”.
And silly old me was thinking that FSU has decreased revenue because their team hasn’t been a powerhouse for 10 years.
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
8:37 pm
LOL @ Paul
Go Jackets!
February 3rd, 2012
10:09 pm
Bring back Bobby Bowden! Dadnabit!
Go Jackets!
February 3rd, 2012
10:10 pm
or is it dagnabit?
Gordon
February 3rd, 2012
10:11 pm
Tech needs to make sure that they get 4 home conference games in the year they play UGA at home to balance out the schedule. I’m sure that is DRad’s top priority.
go way Groh
February 3rd, 2012
10:19 pm
why do you people have to put Al Groh’s photo in the newspaper’s website? I could care less he has connections to these Super Bowl coaches. In fact, I beg the Giants coach to hire Groh and get him away from GT. What did AG do lately? Fired from VA and we hire the loser. God, I wish that old man would retire and go away. What did he do that makes him the truth of anything. Just one more coach on CPJ’s staff that weighs down that entire organization. Then you have to keep posting his photo.
not happening
February 3rd, 2012
10:23 pm
Since we obviously are not a basketball school anymore, I wish GT would get out of this sorry conference full of tobacco road good ole boys and play football somewhere else. Who the blank cares about Pittsburgh or the acCused? DRAD maybe since he is from Pittsburgh. Good he can go be their AD. Those schools suck
Joe 12-Pack
February 3rd, 2012
10:40 pm
I didn’t know the ACC was still playing football.
Go Jackets!
February 3rd, 2012
10:54 pm
12-Pack, you need a TV. You can get one cheap at a yard sale. Make sure it’s cable ready.
Dostoyevskiy
February 3rd, 2012
11:04 pm
The Big Four in NC has a lot to be proud of. Four fine schools. Duke, Wake and Unc for business, medicine and law. A degree from NCState in eng/comp science will get you a nice job if you learned your lessons well.
Supersize that order, mutt
February 3rd, 2012
11:16 pm
Go Jackets, I believe it was “dadgumit”.
sting_em
February 4th, 2012
12:20 am
This sucks. I wish they would have realigned the conference to a more North – South split;
South North
FSU Miami
GT UV or VT
Clem Pitt
UNC Cuse
Duke Mary
NCst UV or VT
Wake BC
or
South North
FSU Pitt
GT BC
Miami VT
Clemson UV
Duke Cuse
Wake Maryland
UNC NCSt
sting_em
February 4th, 2012
12:37 am
Good point Gordon. None of this BS on again off again scheduling crap. GT, Clem, and FSU. UGA, UF, and USC will have the same issues in the SEC. If can’t be worked out, Hate to say it, but I see GT vs UGA, Clem vs USC, and FSU vs UF game being changed to another week in the not so distant future. Traditionally those games have been played the last game of the year, but with the way college football is heading, traditions are made to be broken. Should always play a conference game the last week of the season. All the marbles for the chance to go to a BCS. BCS has almost made those game irrelevant.