Takeaways from ACC’s Scheduling Model

As you might have seen, the ACC released their revised scheduling model for the Fall 2020 season. While at this stage its brutally optimistic to assume any game plays, much less 11, it’s a step in the direction that the ACC plans to play football in some capacity.

Which means I get to yell about things into the void.

Because this is #online that means there has to be winners, and there has to be losers. I’ll go ahead and spoil one of them: Wake did not win this revised model by any means necessary.

Winner: NC State Wolfpack

I thought about making this one a joint State/Duke/UNC point as all got to dodge Clemson somehow, but taking a peek at State’s schedule, they pulled the golden ticket. While they do get UNC on the road and FSU at home, all things considered, being able to avoid any of Clemson/Notre Dame/Louisville in any capacity is a win this year and State ducks all three of them while getting to play the entire Coastal division. While I still don’t think they win more than 5 games max with this schedule, it’s still very favorable on paper.

Winner: ACC Revenue

If this season does play, the ACC should be rolling in TV money. With little(or no) fans, attendance will definitely hurt, but the ACC got one huge boost this year. According to the release by the Conference, “All television revenue for the 2020 season, including Notre Dame’s home games broadcast by NBC, will be shared equally by all 15 institutions.” Something is going to make TV revenue skyrocket, even more than it already has been, but i can’t quite put my finger on it.

Loser: Virginia Cavaliers

I don’t know who UVA pissed off for their road schedule but during a year where you’re not really sure where your team stands, getting Clemson/FSU/Miami/Virginia Tech/Wake Forest is one of the worst draws you can get and they still have to deal with Louisville, UNC, and BC at home. Might be a rough year in Charlottesville.

Loser: Syracuse Orange

Cuse also got the short end of the stick with a HORRENDOUS road schedule of Clemson/Louisville/UNC/ND/Pitt(my original pick to win the Coastal). Their home schedule is a lot more manageable with a few toss up games but it puts a lot more pressure on the home slate for them.

Winner: Fun games

Wake gets to defend their Big 4 rings, Miami-Clemson SHOULD be explosive, FSU-Notre Dame, and the Coastal being spread around means we should get some out of sorts games all year. Love it. Also we get another chance at greatness:

Loser: Questionable Omissions

#TheRivalry, aka Wake-BC ALWAYS makes for some sort of good tv whether it was the fun 27-24 Wake win last year, or the hilarity that was the 3-0 game(also shoutout to Sinful Seven, I highly recommend preordering it)

On non Wake tangents, Louisville-Clemson is omitted, as is Miami-ND. These would be 2 no brainer matchups for most ACC fans, so very curious as to why those didn’t make the cut.

Loser: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

I alluded to this at the beginning, but Wake did not win the rescheduling by any means. Already having one of the harder schedules in the ACC, Wake stood to have some boost in non conference games such as ODU and Villanova to help having Miami/ND/Clemson/FSU/Louisville on the slate. Now Wake loses ODU and Villanova. App State makes sense as the 1 non conference game, but I’d imagine John Currie is working to push it to a year they can have full capacity as that screams sellout, and instead trying to schedule someone like Elon who’s looking to play games. Gone is FSU from the schedule, but they get replaced with a road game to Chapel Hill. I still think 7-8 wins is on the table, which is where i had them with the original schedule, but Wake has to stay healthy and hope for a scheduling order that is favorable.

Winner: Fans

Again, very optimistic to assume 11 games play, but it looks like football will be played in some fashion as long as people continue(start?) to wear masks, social distance, and help stop the spread of COVID-19. If we can all come together and commit to being smart, there will seem to be some semblance of a season. Please. I urge you. Wear a mask, social distance, please.

Go Deacs.