ACC Announces Changes to Scheduling, Beginning in 2013

The ACC released a decision on future schedules for football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball. The changes for football and basketball begin in 2013, while baseball changes don't take place until 2014.

ACC football members will go to an 8-game ACC schedule, instead of the 9-game schedule that was expected with the additions of Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame (sort of).

Per the press release:

With 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.

So, as scheduled now, the Hokies have nine ACC opponents for 2013 and Andy Bitter points out the following adjustment that will be need to be made:

Today's news will have to force #Hokies to adjust their 2013 sked. Have three Atlantic Division foes. One will have to go. Need non-con game

— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) October 3, 2012

As of now, the Hokies have Maryland, Florida State and Boston College on the slate for 2013 as Atlantic Division opponents. One of them will have to go and given the way that teams often look for a way to make schedules easier (especially conference schedules), I wouldn't be surprised if FSU and Tech mutually agree to drop the game. From what I've seen on Twitter, and based on history, Tech will keep Boston College as the annual opponent and then rotate through the rest of the Atlantic Division. The schedule just got a lot more boring, folks.

As for football in 2013, Tech will have to drop Maryland, FSU or BC and add an non-conference game. Given that Western Carolina is already on the schedule as an FCS team, the Hokies will have to find an FBS team to fill the void of the dropped Atlantic Division opponent. With Marshall already on the schedule for next year, expect Tech to look for another one of the schools that they've often played in the past such as ECU, Arkansas State, or Western Michigan.

The changes for basketball are as follows:

The 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 Syracuse
Clemson - Florida State and Georgia Tech
Duke - North Carolina and Wake Forest
Florida State - Clemson and Miami
Georgia Tech - Clemson and Notre Dame
Maryland - Pitt and Virginia
Miami - Florida State and Virginia Tech
North Carolina - Duke and NC State
NC State - North Carolina and Wake Forest
Notre Dame - Boston College and Georgia Tech
Pitt - Maryland and Syracuse
Syracuse - Boston College and Pitt
Virginia - Maryland and Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech - Miami and Virginia
Wake Forest - Duke and NC State

To put it more simply, Tech will play every ACC team once and will play Virginia and Miami twice each. I personally kind of like the format, it allows certain traditions to keep playing twice a year.

The baseball change is as follows:

Beginning 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.

The current format is for eight teams to enter in the ACC Championship, so two more teams will now be able to compete. Considering that three more teams are joining the ACC than the current format, this is a pretty fair change, I'd say.

What do you think of the scheduling changes?