Miami is caught within the ACC for the foreseeable future. It could possibly be worse. The ACC obtained two bids to the School Soccer Playoff, only one fewer than the (as soon as) mighty SEC, and yet one more than the single-bid Huge XII. However, there’s a hole wider than Biscayne Bay between the income obtained by the SEC and the Huge Ten, on the one hand, and the ACC on the opposite. Nearly all of the faculty soccer blue bloods have consolidated themselves within the Huge Ten or SEC, and their broadcasting companions have rewarded them with essentially the most profitable media rights offers. By so much.
Not serving to the ACC’s trigger is its weak sauce viewership numbers. This 12 months’s ACC Championship Sport between SMU and Clemson drew a paltry 5.98M viewers regardless of airing on ABC throughout primetime. By comparability, the SEC Championship between Georgia and Texas drew 16.63M viewers, the Huge Ten Championship between Oregon and Penn State had 10.5M viewers (on CBS reverse the ACC Championship recreation), and the Huge XII Championship recreation had 6.90M viewers on ABC at midday. Regardless of arguably having the best playoff implications, the ACC was a distant fourth on scores.
Separate and other than the low TV scores, the ACC suffered from a scarcity of premiere common season matchups for its groups. As convention sizes swell effectively past 12 members, many groups will go greater than two years with out taking part in each other. The outcome might be circumstances like this previous 12 months the place convention leaders SMU, Miami, and Clemson didn’t play one another. That contributed to those workforce’s followers having to take heed to the SEC-stumping, speaking heads bemoan how weak the ACC playoff contenders’ energy of schedule was in comparison with the Alabama and Ole Miss.
For the ACC to remain related, it must generate modern, daring, out-of-the-box concepts to make sure its prime groups obtain prime billing with its media companions. One such thought could possibly be to carry a event to find out the ACC champion – like basketball, baseball, volleyball, and so on. This could generate premier, late-season matchups that will draw larger TV scores and be sure that on-the-field outcomes, and never tiebreakers, decide the convention champion. Inviting the entire convention is not possible, however a four-team convention playoff or event is totally possible. Right here’s how the ACC might squeeze a semi-final matchup into the schedule…
All convention championship video games are held throughout Convention Championship Week (Dec. sixth and seventh in 2024), with the CFP choice occurring the next Sunday (Dec. 8). Having semi-final video games the week earlier than (Nov. 28-30) is not possible. That’s Rivalry Week, and several other ACC groups have already got annual non-conference video games together with Clemson (vs. South Carolina), Florida State (vs. Florida), Louisville (vs. Kentucky), and Georgia Tech (vs. Georgia).
So maintain the semi-finals Week 13 (Nov. 21-23) after taking part in an eight recreation convention schedule, and reserve Week 14 for non-conference video games (extra on that later…).
The ACC Semifinals might be chosen one among two methods. The best method is to make use of the identical guidelines and tie-breakers presently in place to choose the highest 4 groups. The opposite possibility could be to reinstate divisions (and doubtless add yet one more enlargement workforce to make an occasion 18 groups, like UConn, Memphis, Tulsa, a Pac 12 workforce, or Notre Dame in a dream situation). The highest two groups from two divisions could possibly be chosen, or the highest three groups from three divisions could possibly be chosen plus a wildcard.
As soon as the ACC Semifinals are set, you could possibly give the remainder of the convention a bye week or you could possibly matchup the remainder of the convention groups to play essentially the most attention-grabbing video games attainable. The fifth and sixth place groups would play one another, as would the seventh and eighth place groups, ninth and tenth, and so forth. Though these different groups gained’t be competing for a convention title, no less than a number of contests ought to generate some intriguing matchups with bowl placement and eligibility implications.
As for Week 14, it might or might not be tough for groups to search out non-conference opponents. One alternative is to implement this concept in partnership with the Huge XII whose members usually are not invested in Rivalry Week – not one of the greatest Huge XII rivalries occurred that week, maybe as a result of Kansas v. Kansas St., BYU v. Utah, and Arizona v. Arizona State would get crushed by Huge Ten and SEC rivalry video games for TV scores. The ACC and the Huge XII, who each want to enhance their TV scores and visibility, might create a scheduling partnership for Week 14 (like an ACC/Huge XII problem). Logistically, scheduling these would work effectively for a lot of faculties: California and Stanford might face an outdated Pac 12 foe; SMU might face one of many Texas faculties; and West Virginia, Cincinnati, and UCF might keep within the Jap time zone even when they go on the highway.
Think about if Miami’s 2024 schedule dropped Ball State and/or Florida A&M, and added an ACC semi-finals matchup plus a Huge XII matchup? That will have actually improved Miami’s energy of schedule, which was universally ranked within the 50’s. It will have additionally taken one or two video games off the ACC Community in favor of an ESPN, or presumably ABC, tv slot. Onerous to see a draw back, no less than whereas Miami is trapped on this convention.