#ACC ADs vote to stay with current 8 + 1 schedule model. Was it the right decision?

The ACC ADs voted to keep the current 8 + 1 scheduling format in a bit of surprise as reported by ESPN and the DailyPress’s David Teel. 

Most felt the ACC would either go to the 9 conference games + 1 Power 5 Opponent or the 8 + 2 model. According Brett McMurphy the ACC even left money on the table. It was an amount that wouldn’t move the needle in my opinion though.

ACC opts to remain at 8 league games despite the fact ACC schools will now receive $500K less per school in TV revenue industry sources said

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) October 5, 2016

What we really want to know was this the right decision by the ACC ADs?

For Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, and Georgia Tech who had an annual SEC rival game, it was the right decision. Those schools could maintain their year end rivalry and and still have the flexibility to schedule a 2nd power 5 team along with Notre Dame while keeping 7 homes. Pittsburgh is tying up non-conference games with Penn State until 2020 and then West Virginia from 2022-2025. They are in the same boat as Clemson, FSU, Louisville, and Georgia Tech.

No conference that play 9 conference games has a team that has to deal with the scheduling difficulty of having already 1 OOC opponent locked up other than USC and Stanford who play Notre Dame each year. They have had at times needed to give up a 7th home game, which many ACC teams are unwilling to do.

One the other end of spectrum, Wake Forest blog BloggersSoDear thinks the new development benefits the Deacs, as a lighter schedule allows the rebuilding Deacs a chance to gain a few more wins. That’s understandable when you play FSU, Louisville and Clemson each year.

There is no doubt frustration at the continued oddity of some ACC schools only playing each other once every six years. There are several solutions. You can get rid of divisions, or reduce the number of the permanent cross-over games from every year to every other year, but the ACC offices aren’t listening to me.

With so many different agendas, the right decision is the one that was voted on. Enough schools saw fit to say that that 8 + 1 model worked for them, so how can we argue with that? When you have 14 school’s needs you are trying to manage somebody isn’t going to be happy. You just can’t please everyone.

Currently the ACC is having more football success than they ever had. Maybe now isn’t the time to rock the boat.

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