Miami football: How ACC would look aligned geographically
Major League Baseball currently uses the split rivalry formal in the East and Western Divisions in each league. Two teams in each of the American and National League Eastern and Western Divisions compete in split rivalries. That could be an option for the ACC to pursue with geographically aligned divisions.
The teams that would participate in a rotating schedule in inter-divisional play would be Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State in the North and Boston College, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse in the South. It would provide those eight teams a chance to play inter-divisional opponents more often.
Formats of assigning rivalries for those eight schools would be arbitrary at best. The current cross-division rivalries not involving the six schools listed above would not be relevant in the new format as all of the teams would be in the same division. The geographically aligned divisions would make more sense to a casual ACC fan.
Next. Miami football 2020 strength of schedule ranked 6th in ACC. dark
Playing the other schools more often than an arbitrary rivalry could potentially generate more interest. Miami and Florida State would have an intensified rivalry with the game potentially impacting the outcome of the ACC Coastal. With anything in the ACC, someone has to step up and challenge Clemson first.