The ACC rolled out their new scheduling model earlier this week. RIP to the “old” scheduling model, which lasted all of one year. The new model is harder to figure out, and for a variety of reasons there is going to be a lot more randomness in future seasons.

Here are a couple of reasons for that…

1: It’s a 17-team league with the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU (let’s just rename it the All Coast Conference so we can keep calling ourselves the ACC). There are a ton of teams, but it’s an odd number. Not to mention that the league wants to balance cross-country trips.

2: Not every team has the same number of automatic protected rivalries. The Hokies have two – they’ll play Miami and UVA every season. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech and Louisville don’t have any. Overall, the ACC chose to protect 16 different rivalries across the league, and Virginia Tech got two of those 16.

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