The 2024 ACC Football schedule was released a couple of weeks ago. As we do each year, we told you what like about the schedule, and now it’s what we don’t like.
Louisville playing Pitt before Kentucky.
While FSU, Georgia Tech, and Clemson either have light games or the previous Saturday off – Louisville has a conference game before their ACC/SEC rivalry game. Louisville has really struggled in recent years with Kentucky, and a they need every break they can get before playing the Wildcats. That said Kentucky has to play at Texas so no breaks for Kentucky either.
BYE Weeks after 2 games?
Why do five ACC teams have BYE weeks after playing 2 games? The benefit of BYE weeks is to get rest and recover from injuries. This year there are multiple BYE Weeks, but Clemson, Louisville, SMU, Stanford, and Syracuse are using one their’s before their 3rd game. That seems like it could have been spread out a little better.
Too many rivalry games on the same day
Look I get the ACC/SEC rivalry games are hard to move, but at least one of NC State/UNC, Wake Forest/Duke, and Virginia Tech/Virginia I think could have been moved to the Friday before. These are tremendous regional rivalries that can get lost on that rivalry Saturday a move of at least one creates less competition on that Friday.
Cal, Stanford, and SMU
Look I want to be clear about something when I talk about Cal, Stanford, and SMU. I was in favor of their additions. I’m looking forward to seeing Stanford’s strong baseball and women’s basketball program against ACC competition. A trip to SMU and the Dallas-Fort Worth area is something I’ll probably do. Cal football even made a bowl game last year and could be pretty good in the coming years. Here is the issue in 2024, going into the season – there isn’t Cal, Stanford, and SMU football conference game that I have circled on my calendar. I’m not writing off their additions in football just yet, but today in February 2024, the football games I see do don’t a lot for me.
Notre Dame with 4 of 5 ACC opponents at home
How exactly did Notre Dame end up hosting 4 of their 5 ACC opponents? Even the game Georgia Tech is not an on-campus site, but at Mercedes Benz. Wasn’t this agreement supposed to provide big home environments for the ACC? Creating a 2-3, 3-2 format every other year shouldn’t be complicated.
