When the ACC unveiled its new seven-member divisions with the additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse back in February, the conference also confirmed that it would be moving to a nine-game conference schedule as well.
Yeah, scratch that.
ESPN’s Brett McMurphy reported earlier today that the ACC was going to stick with an eight-game conference schedule because of the football partnership it has with Notre Dame. The ACC issued a release a short time later confirming the report.
“With the addition of Notre Dame playing five games annually against ACC teams, the league has determined it will play an eight-game conference schedule for 2013 and beyond,” the release states. “Divisions, primary crossover partners and rotating opponents from the opposite division will remain consistent to what was previously announced.”
The ACC announced last month that Notre Dame would become a member of the conference in all sports except football and hockey. As part of the agreement, Notre Dame will play five ACC opponents in football every year.
The Big 12 and Pac-12 play nine-game league schedules while the Big Ten and SEC play eight. However, the SEC has considered a nine-game schedule and could eventually move to one. With a four-team playoff expected to select teams with an emphasis on strength of schedule, it’s interesting to see how conferences draw their respective scheduling lines.