Yesterday, David Tell of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that ACC athletic directors are considering, in the event any football is played this fall, breaking the fifteen teams (which would include Notre Dame) into pods of five. The idea is each team would play their pod-mates twice apiece in a home-and-home while leaving space for a game or two against an SEC opponent, to preserve rivalries like Florida-Florida State. Of course, this is just one idea, and it’s still looking unlikely any more football will be played before 2021, but in the event there’s a spring season, this could be on the table, and more than anything else it’s just kind of fun to mess around with, so here we are, messing around with it. Here are three possible pod structures, along with some notes. I did this on Twitter yesterday, so this is only a slight expansion of that for those of you wondering if it’s worth your time (we’ve already got your pageview, you can go now if you wish).
Preserving Rivalries
Presumably, this is something important to the ACC, given their focus on allowing Clemson to play South Carolina. It’s also convenient geographically. Now, I’m not an expert on ACC rivalries, so my apologies if I mess something up here, but generally, here’s a way the pods could be structured to keep rivalries intact:
Pod A: UNC, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson
Pod B: Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Miami, Florida State
Pod C: Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame
There could certainly be some shuffling, but my perception is that the ACC would want the Virginia schools to be together, the Florida schools to be together, the Research Triangle to be together, Pitt to be with Syracuse, and Notre Dame to play Boston College.
Minimizing Travel, Keeping In-State Schools Together
I didn’t do any hefty analysis of this, so it’s possible it doesn’t optimize the minimization of travel, but it does keep schools from the same state together, which is important in a world in which states may be dictating whether college football teams may play college football. It’s very similar to the Rivalries option.
Pod A: UNC, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson
Pod B: Louisville, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami
Pod C: Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech
No, having Miami fly all the way up to South Bend isn’t ideal, but they’re going to have to travel a ways regardless, unless the North Carolina schools get broken up (you could move Wake Forest & Clemson into Pod B, Louisville and Notre Dame back to Pod C, and Virginia and Virginia Tech into Pod A in an alternative option to these first two).
Maximizing Good Games
This would be the most fun. Break the teams into three tiers (I did it roughly based on last year’s results and expectations for this year) so you’ve got Notre Dame, Clemson, UNC, and two other fringe contenders playing home-and-homes against one another in something of an ACC super league. In the example below, Florida State could be subbed in for Louisville or Virginia Tech according to preference.
Pod A: Clemson, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Louisville, Virginia Tech
Pod B: Florida State, Miami, Virginia, Wake Forest, Pitt
Pod C: Boston College, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Duke, NC State
Of course, Pod C stinks, and Pod B is mediocre, but that’s kind of the point of going this route, and at least this way Clemson gets to play slightly less ostentatious blowouts than they otherwise would. It especially would make sense if there’s a possibility of shutting the whole thing down after a few weeks—the league would at least get a few good games this way.
In a normal season, this would still be fun—fewer blowouts, more high-profile matchups—but there’s no way a conference would do it this boldly, given the obsession with minimizing losses rather than maximizing strength of record.
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The overall practicality of this? These pods might actually happen, but as with college football as a whole, it’s more likely they’ll happen in the spring than it is they’ll happen this fall. We continue to wait for more word.
