Even though the Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC went geographical in their divisions,
they incorporate the protected cross-division game in their conference schedule.
Big Ten: Indiana-Purdue is the only protected cross-division game.
Pac-12: The 4 CA schools have 2 protected cross-division games so they can play each other every year.
SEC: Each team currently plays an 8 game conference schedule with 1 protected cross-division game and 1 rotating cross-division game.
The problem the ACC has is that the Southeast Region is critical from a recruiting standpoint. As a result, the ACC can't go with a North-South alignment a la what the Bix XII did and what the Pac-12 currently does because the North Division would be at a competitive disadvantage. At least that is what the schools and coaches believe. Plus, having 14 members makes it more difficult to have a clean separation between the 2 divisions (i.e. the VA-NC border being the dividing line). If the ACC went with an East-West model, then it wouldn't be any different than the current quasi zipper model.
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In response to this post by 2hhoop3)
Posted: 12/28/2021 at 12:58PM