ACC Football is going to need to play scheduling catch-up to keep up with the SEC

Well, as I predicted last week, the SEC is now set to join the Big Ten and Big 12 in adopting a nine-game conference football slate.

The ACC is now on the clock, standing as the only Power Four league sticking with eight, for now at least.

Essentially, the SEC’s shift to a nine-game conference schedule leaves the ACC with no options but to follow.

Don’t forget, the College Football Playoff selection committee last week decided to implement the SEC’s “suggestion” to weigh record strength more heavily when deciding at-large teams into the CFP 12-team format.

Last time I checked, nine is greater than eight, which means conferences with nine-game slates will have more weight than conferences (ACC) that play only eight.

But, for the ACC, simply going to nine is not as simple as you think.

The ACC currently has 17 football members, and odd numbers often make scheduling challenging.

Jim Phillips addressed this at the ACC Kickoff last month in Charlotte, saying: “We have discussed nine (conference games) several times in my five years as commissioner.”

Phillips admitted that with 17 members, making the math work would be more difficult.

After Stanford’s embarrassing loss to Hawaii on Saturday, I’d vote the Cardinal out of the conference.

Problem solved.

That’s too simple a solution, so the commissioner is going to have to circle the wagons on this, and quickly.

For the ACC, simply moving to a nine-game schedule will come with some potential risk.

A nine-game slate means only three non-conference games each season.

Most ADs and certainly coaches are going to prefer that the opponents in those three games are selected from the dessert end of the buffet bar, in other words, cupcakes and pastries.

The rub here: many teams in the ACC have SEC rivals that they play annually – Florida State-Florida, Clemson-South Carolina, Louisville-Kentucky, Georgia Tech-Georgia.

Also, don’t forget that Pitt often faces West Virginia in the “Backyard Brawl,” and Boston College routinely battles Notre Dame as well.

And, there’s that forced marriage that Notre Dame has with five alternating ACC schools each season.

So, as an example, one season could find FSU playing nine conference games, as well as the rival game against Florida, and the contest with the Irish.

For counting purposes, that’s 11 games.

Leaving just one game against the pastry of choice for the Seminoles.

Programs like to have flexibility in non-conference scheduling, and to be fair, it’s not all because of scheduling easy wins.

Game experience for backups, and laying the foundation for competing in the conference portion of the schedule, are also factors in a non-conference slate.

However, what the networks demand, the networks get.

Earlier this year, ESPN was reportingly willing to increase its payments to the SEC, should they move to nine conference games.

The additional money will average about $5 million per year per member school in the SEC.

Still surprised the SEC announced a nine-game conference schedule?

The bottom line here is this: once again, the ACC is a step behind the other Power Four schools.

This additional conference game should have been implemented when the three-headed monster conference expansion took place two years ago.

Now the league is again playing catch-up.

The ACC can’t afford not to follow, and yes, some of the traditional rivalry games may go away.

It’s the price you pay to play with the big boys.