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ACC Future Schedules, Part II

Miami
The Canes may have the most big-name games upcoming of all ACC teams,but that's no surprise. Miami plays several in-state games including away-home with UF in 2008/2013, FIU in '07, UCF home-away-home from '08-'10, and USF home-away in '12/'13 (presumably home again in '14).

Pretty much everything else is a respectable intersectional matchup. The smallest name is North Texas in 08, then there's Marshall home-away-home, Oklahoma away-home, Texas A&M home-away, Ohio State away-home, Kansas State home-away.

The U has games scheduled with schools from C-USA, the Big East, the Sun Belt, SEC, Big 10, and Big XII. That's every east coast conference, the definitive midwest conference, and the definitive central US conference. Every BCS conference but the Pac-10 is represented. This kind of national exposure is good not only for Miami but for the whole conference.

NC State
The Wolfpack has one of the least impressive future schedules in the ACC. There's a possibility this will improve soon, or that these websites have very incomplete data.

As of right now, State's best matchups in the future are Tennessee away-home in '08/'12, Louisville in '07, Pitt in '09/'13, Cinci in '10/'11, and UConn in 2007 and 2012. The only other games listed are the Citadel, William & Mary, and East Carolina in '07/'10/'13/'16. Other than Tennessee from the SEC and ECU from C-USA, the only I-A conference NC State is playing is the Big East. Although I give the Big East its due, that's poor scheduling in my opinion.

North Carolina
Between now and 2011, UNC will have played Rutgers four times. This isn't poor scheduling; the Tarheels and Knights were scheduled to play in '06/'08, but as a result of the Big East/ACC lawsuit, were required to play another series before 2012 (why they couldn't have these teams play different ACC/BE opponents, I have no clue).

NC has several small-time regional matches coming up, including two games w/ James Madison, one against the Citadel, four w/ East Carolina, one with William & Mary, and what should be an exciting home-away against USC in 2007/'10. Other exciting series are home-away series with Colorado in '08/'09, and Tennessee in '11/'12.

Virginia
One of the most interesting intersectional ACC matchups is UVA/Wyoming, in Charlottesville in 2006 and Laramie in '07. Virginia plays at Notre Dame in 2008 with apparently no home game in return. Other matchups are UConn home-away, Pitt, ECU, @MTSU, Richmond twice and William & Mary twice.

Virginia Tech
The Hokies' schedule is quite robust, with opponents from C-USA, the SEC, MAC, Big East, Big XII, and several from the Big 10. In 2007, VT plays East Carolina in Charlotte, at LSU, and hosts Ohio University and William & Mary.

Single-game opponents in the coming years include Bowling Green, Furman, Temple, Central Mich, Western Mich, and Appalachian State. Upcoming series include Nebraska, ECU, Syracuse, Marshall, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Illinois, and Wisconsin. It seems VT is trying to get a lot of exposure in the midwest; guess they need a solid recruiting push. All those Big 10 matchups are exciting.

Wake Forest
The Demon Deacons have a respectable future schedule, with some pretty big name series. The Deacs play Nebraska, '07; Stanford, '09/'10; Ole Miss, '06/'08; Baylor, '08/'09; Navy, '07-'10, and round thngs out with games against Army, UConn, Northern Illinois, Tulane, Air Force, and Syracuse.


Recap
The Atlantic Coast Conference teams are, as a whole, doing some pretty damn good scheduling. Here's the breakdown of matchups by 1-A conference, with a few caveats. These numbers: start in 2007; exclude annual matchups (e.g., GT/UGA, Maryland/WVU, etc.); and are not consistent from team to team (i.e. some of the games referred to are as much as ten years away, while some teams list no games past 2008).

Big East: 32 games
SEC: 27
Ind*: 24
C-USA: 19
Big XII: 17
Sun Belt: 12
MAC: 12
Big 10: 11
Pac 10: 6
MWC: 6
WAC: 1
* Breakdown: Notre Dame 7, Navy 7, Army 6, Temple 1

This breakdown is better than I expected; I anticipated more Sun Belt/MAC games and fewer Big 10 and Big 12 games. The enormous Big East number is unsurprising, because many games are a result of the lawsuit, and the number of SEC games is natural because of both geographic co-location and historic rivalries.

Some of the few things I'd like to see changed are a few more neutral site games, just because they can be a fun change of pace, and a slight increase in the number of Pac-10 & WAC games played. The expenses for long-distance matchups are understandably high, but I'd think the expenditure should come back to you in recruiting exposure.