On the off chance that this idea gets implemented, I'm documenting that I came up with it on September 20, 2011. (Of course, winning the lottery has a higher probability) But I think last game of the season flex scheduling, which allows for conference semifinals is the wave of the future. Anyway, here is my idea that I sent through the gopack.com wolfpack unlimited feedback.
If the ACC gets to 16 teams, and we split into 4 pods for football scheduling, I had an idea that has never been tried in college football, but it's an idea that could create de facto conference semifinals on Thanksgiving weekend (which TV will love) and lead into the conference championship weekend with two remaining teams. I can describe the setup in more detail, but as basic as I can get it, here goes. Essentially, you play a 7 game conference schedule leading up to Thanksgiving. You play all three teams in your pod (called Pod 1), and then all four teams in Pod 2. Then the last game of the season, each team in Pod 1 has a guaranteed home "flex" game. The top team in Pod 1 plays the top team in Pod 3 (which is a de facto semifinal). Then the 2nd place team in Pod 1, plays the 2nd place team in Pod 3, and 3rd place teams play and 4th place teams play. These 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place matchups have no effect on who participates in the conference championship, but would certainly impact bowl positioning, etc. This guarantees that everyone plays on Thanksgiving weekend. In Pod 2, all the teams know that in that year, they will go on the road for the "flex" game, and their flex matchup will be against Pod 4. After that year of scheduling, in year 2, you flip the matchups with regard to home and road, and you also, flip the pre-determined home team for the flex game. Pod 1 will go on the road to Pod 3 for the flex game, and then Pod 2 will host Pod 4 for their flex game.
In year 3 and 4 of this scheduling, your would regular-season pod partner would change. (Pod 1 would now be matched up with Pod 3, and Pod 2 would be matched up with Pod 4) And the flex game match up would change to: Pod 1's first place team would play Pod 4's first place team same with 2nd place, 3rd place and 4th place; The Pod 2 flex match up would be with Pod 3.
Then in years 5 and 6, you'd change regular-season pod partners again (1 v 4, and 2 v 3) with the last game flex matchups as 1 v 2 and 3 v 4.
Then the whole thing would circle back on a six year cycle. From a specific team perspective like NC State, we would home-away our pod partners each year. And we'd get a home and away (2 games) with each other conference member in a six year cycle, plus whoever you matched up with in your flex game.
The requirement of course is to predetermined the hosting teams for the flex game, because of stadium scheduling and balancing out a 4 home-4 road yearly conference schedule, but it wouldn't be too hard. If NC State is in Pod 1 (teams A, B, C, and D) as team A, then in the first year we would play a schedule of @B, C, @D, E, @F, G, @H, and host the flex game. (Pod 2 is of course teams E, F, G, and H) If UNC is in Pod 1 as team B, they would play a schedule of A, @C, D, @E, @F, @G, H, and host the flex game. They would be traveling to 3 of their cross pod partners, but would get to host the flex game. The following year, both teams would reverse that schedule. UNC would get to host 3 of their cross pod partners, but would go on the road for the flex game.
Ultimately, this creates a 4 home and 4 road yearly schedule. It keeps rivalries in a pod system. It rewards "pod" winners with a flex game that acts as a conference semifinal, and it should create great last week of the season matchups across the board. Stadiums are pre-scheduled for that weekend, so hosts know they will be in a game, and the only drawback, is that road teams won't know where they are going (they'll know it's one of four possible locations) for that last game until the standings are completed.
Anyway, I just thought of this in the last couple of days and thought it was worth suggesting. I think it would be revolutionary for the ACC to introduce flex scheduling and conference semifinals into college football and would put us ahead of the curve as we re-negotiate the TV deal. If this sounds interesting and there is any interest in me mapping out the full schedule, I'd be happy to do so. If not, thanks for at least reading this suggestion.
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