A few thoughts.
GT didn't ask for any protected rivals so it didn't receive any.
That also meant that it was likely to have the most games against other conference teams with fewer protected rivals.
ACC is not going to pay any attention to who teams play on their OOC schedule when they set up the conference schedules. Their primary goal is to set up the conference schedule in a way that meets all the protected rivals and also to limit cross country travel for all schools. It is up to the individual schools to set up their OOC schedules.
This doesn't show ND but I suspect before next year we will see a schedule with ND that shows how that is going to run for the next 7 years.
Fans are way too down on the ACC as a conference - it isn't going anywhere. It is going to exist in 2036 and likely beyond. There may be schools that leave by 2036 (and for all we know GT could be one of them) but the conference will survive - that was part of the reason for the expansion. It has easily the 3rd best contract in college football and the future revenue projections for the conferences show the Big 2 expanding their annual revenue numbers over other conferences, but the ACC's annual revenues continue to expand faster than the B12. ACC hasn't lost a school since 2012.
The NC mafia has less power going forward than it is has in the past. With the new additions it will take 5 schools to stop anything that the other schools want to do. Going forward the 4 schools that tried to stop the expansion initially would no longer have the power to do that going forward.
Some fans seem upset about the NC Schools getting protection. I'm not really worried about that. I am simply focused on seeing GT becoming the best version of itself. That's likely a program that can avg 8-8.5 wins over a 5-yr period with maybe 1 ACC Championship game appearance and maybe a CFP appearance once a decade.
Knee-jerk reactions to the ACC's scheduling model through the 2030 season.
www.espn.com
FWIW, here are my priorities for GT.
1. See if we can help the ACC improve as a conference. This is easily the best option for GT Athletics. A strong ACC is good for GT as GT fits better in the ACC than any other power conference. Part of this is simply GT becoming a much better football program as GT has been one of the worst P5 programs over the last 5 years.
2. If B1G actually made an offer you likely have to take it but understand what you are likely doing. You are trading wins for money. Very few schools have moved up from a 'lower' conference to a 'higher' conference and done better on the field. You make more money than the schools you used to compete against - but they are no longer your competitors, your new conference teams are and they almost all make way more money than you do. - because it isn't the media contracts that make the big differences in revenue, it is all the other revenue streams - ticket sales, purchases at the events, etc. Ohio St's previous AD mentioned that they make over $100M in revenue each year on their home games. I would not expect any movement from the B1G until the end of the decade when their media rights are up and they see what they can get in a new contract.
There was an article that looked at all the schools that have changed from a G5 to P5 conference or P5 to P5 conference and almost all of them have worst overall records since the move than before. Have Miami and VT been better in the ACC than they were in the BE? MD hasn't won a single game in a decade in the B1G against a ranked B1G opponent. Look at how the G5 schools that have moved up to P5 conferences are performing.
Also, the last 12 months have shown their simply is not the money for programs to move to new P5 conferences and get large payouts right now. In 5 years that may be different, but right now there is not the money nor desire to pay full shares for teams to jump conferences.
theacc.com
www.winsipedia.com
