Who's Not Playing Who

As I begin to think about making uninformed prognostications about the upcoming football season, I figure it's good to start by looking at the schedule imbalances within the mysteriously enhanced ACC. So for my own reference as much as anything,

COASTAL DIVISION

North Carolina avoids Boston College, Florida State and Maryland. The latter two have 3 and 4 game winning streaks againts the Heels, respectively, so its a successful break for the Heels, depending on Maryland's squad turns out this year.

Duke also misses out on Maryland, as well as Clemson and North Carolina State. In the end of course, who provides their eight losses isn't that important in Durham, but it's a bit of a disappointment for the Wolfpack and Terrapins.

Georgia Tech doesn't see Boston College, Florida State, or Wake Forest this year. Far and away the best stroke of scheduling luck in the Coastal Division. Tech has never beaten FSU in the ACC, and has yet to face Boston College.

Miami loses out on facing Clemson, North Carolina State and Wake Forest. The last two of those are lost wins for a team hemmoraging players and coaches. This won't be an easy season for the Hurricanes, though ducking Clemson helps.

Virginia doesn't face Boston College, Clemson, and Wake Forest, two good teams and one cupcake.

Virginia Tech ducks Florida State, Maryland and North Carolina State, giving them a small leg up on the schedule.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

I suppose you can put this together from reading the Coastal Division summary, but to quickly recap:

Boston College doesn't play Georgia Tech, UNC, or Virginia. Unfortunate draw for the Eagles.

Clemson doesn't get Duke, Miami, or Virginia. Also unfortunate, but not to the same extent.

Florida State doesn't face Georgia Tech, UNC, or Virginia Tech. The engineer-free schedule is an advantage, but they'll surely miss seeing Carolina blue.

Maryland doesn't see Duke, UNC, or Virginia Tech. The resulting schedule won't give Friegden much of a chance to recover his past glory.

North Carolina State won't meet Duke, Miami, or Virginia Tech. I'm sure Wolfpack fans will focus solely on missing the Blue Devils, but this is the best schedule in the Atlantic.

And finally, Wake Forest won't line up across from Georgia Tech, Miami, or Virginia, an lucky break for a team that could use a couple more of them.

The winners? North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest. The losers? Boston College, Miami, and Clemson. The latter three have enough talent that the schedule shouldn't be an adversity, but only one of the former group will make much use of their fortunes. As for the Heels, the schedule helps, but as you'll discover I'm typically overly optimistic about the football chances in Kenan to begin with.