Miami football schedule could be remade with focus on regionalization

The ACC Coastal and Atlantic divisions could be suspended for the 2020 season with an emphasis placed on more regional games. That would create an entirely new schedule for the Miami football program.

The Miami football team could have an entirely new schedule for the 2020 season that emphasizes games against teams from their region. The ACC Coastal and Atlantic Divisions could be suspended for the 2020 season with the plan of going back to normal in 2021. That could create new temporary rivalries.

The likelihood would seem that the eight southern schools in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida would create a Southern Division in the ACC with the Northern schools beginning with Virginia Tech, Northwest to Notre Dame and east to Boston College would compete in a Northern Division of the ACC.

Manny Navarro of The Athletic reported this week that the 10-plus-one concept in the ACC, Big XII and SEC to preserve rivalry games between four teams in each conference could be too ambitious because of the Covid-19 numbers. Florida and Miami specifically have one of the highest rates of infection in the country.

Navarro reported the ACC is considering the regional concept for only the 2020 season and that would take precedence over the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions. What is not clear is if the plus one concept of each team in the ACC, Big XII and SEC would still schedule one non-conference game each for the 2020 season.

ACC Presidents are meeting on Wednesday and the NCAA Board of Governors are meeting on August 4 to discuss how the season and schedule could potentially play out this season. Part of the problem is that FBS is the only NCAA level of sports without a true governing body or chairman making the ultimate decisions.

Miami currently is scheduled to play Temple, Wagner and Alabama-Birmingham in non-conference. Those games will almost definitely be canceled for 2020. Miami would have a game against a Big XII or SEC for non-conference plus the eight to 10 games scheduled in the ACC.

If the regional concept is adopted, Miami would play their scheduled games against Coastal Division rivals Duke, Georgia Tech and North Carolina, their annual rivalry game with Florida State, their other 2020 crossover game against Wake Forest and add Clemson and North Carolina State for the 2020 season.