ACC Announces Future Scheduling Formats and Policies

NEEDHAM, MA – Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced today future scheduling formats and conference policies as approved by the ACC’s Faculty Athletic Representatives and Athletics Directors. The announcement was made following the annual ACC Fall Business Meetings.

“The addition of Notre Dame gives us an opportunity to reinforce a number of conference rivalries in basketball and Olympic sports while also giving our schools greater flexibility in nonconference football scheduling,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “With Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame joining us, it is an exciting time in our league and our schools have made decisions that position us extremely well for the future.”

A breakdown of the action items are listed below:

FootballWith the addition of Notre Dame playing five games annually against ACC teams, the league has determined it will play an eight-game conference schedule for 2013 and beyond. Divisions, primary crossover partners and rotating opponents from the opposite division will remain consistent to what was previously announced.

Men’s and Women’s BasketballThe ACC will continue to play an 18-game conference schedule with the addition of Notre Dame. The scheduling model will be based on a two-partner format.

Each year, teams will play every league opponent at least once with the two partners playing home and away annually. In addition to the four annual games against partners, the remaining 14 conference games will feature home and away games with two rotating opponents and five home-only games and five road-only games.

The two-primary-partner format preserves competitive balance and builds upon traditional rivalries while providing the opportunity to create new ones.

Boston College – Notre Dame and SyracuseClemson – Florida State and Georgia TechDuke – North Carolina and Wake ForestFlorida State – Clemson and MiamiGeorgia Tech – Clemson and Notre DameMaryland – Pitt and VirginiaMiami – Florida State and Virginia TechNorth Carolina – Duke and NC StateNC State – North Carolina and Wake ForestNotre Dame – Boston College and Georgia TechPitt – Maryland and SyracuseSyracuse – Boston College and PittVirginia – Maryland and Virginia TechVirginia Tech – Miami and VirginiaWake Forest – Duke and NC State

Following the regular season, the ACC Tournament format will continue to feature all league members. The Tournament will begin with three games on Wednesday, followed by four games on Thursday and Friday, two semifinals on Saturday and the championship game on Sunday. The top four seeds will continue to receive byes into Friday’s quarterfinal round.

In the annual ACC/B1G Challenge, the decision was made to include the 12 teams with the best RPI from the previous year.

BaseballBeginning with the 2014 season, the ACC Baseball Championship will feature 10 teams in a six-day event. A double-elimination format will be used Tuesday through Friday followed by two single-elimination games on Saturday and the Championship Game on Sunday.

Conference Policy and ProceduresThe decision was made that should a member institution be ineligible for postseason competition due to NCAA sanctions, it will be ineligible for regular season or divisional recognition.

Dabo Swinney on the ACC playing eight conference games:“I think this is great for us and great for our conference.  With our continued rivalry with South Carolina as an annual non-conference game, and Notre Dame playing each ACC school twice in a six-year period, it was going to be difficult to keep the door open to play two-game series like we have had recently with Auburn and will have next year with Georgia.

“This will also give us flexibility in our schedule and to have seven home games going forward.  That is very important for our community from an economic standpoint as well. I am glad we will continue to play eight conference games a year.”