I was excited when the news broke that Louisville was joining the ACC.  My excitement tempered when John Swofford said that the Cardinals would likely take Maryland’s spot in the Atlantic Division, and their crossover opponent would be UVA.

Before I begin, please put all thoughts of conference realignment, the SEC, or the Big Ten out of your head.  Let’s just assume that the 14-school ACC, minus Maryland and plus Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville, is Virginia Tech’s long-term home.  I don’t know whether it will be or not, but for now it’s all just idle speculation.

With Maryland exiting and three new programs joining the league, I saw this as the prime opportunity for a full ACC reorganization of divisions and crossover rivals.  That’s why I was so excited when the Louisville news was announced, and so disappointed when I learned that they would just slide right into Maryland’s spot.

Just because it doesn’t appear to be happening now doesn’t mean that it won’t happen someday.  If I had the power to make all the decisions, I’d change up the divisions and the crossover opponents.  This article is about what I would do, if I were dictator of the ACC.  I’m going to give myself a few guidelines that I have adhere to during the process as well.

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