Despite the fact that the Syracuse Orange are neither located near the Atlantic nor any coast, we had no choice when joining the ACC that we'd be a part of the Atlantic or Coastal Division. The word came down today.
"The Atlantic and Coastal divisions will remain the same with Syracuse joining the Atlantic and Pitt joining the Coastal. The current primary crossover partners will remain consistent with Syracuse and Pitt becoming primary crossover partners with each other.
When Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC, the league will play a nine-game conference schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its division each year, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division. This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional opponent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away)."
Here are the new divisions:
Atlantic Division
Boston College Eagles
Clemson Tigers
Florida St. Seminoles
Maryland Terrapins
N.C. State Wolfpack
Syracuse Orange
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Coastal Division
Duke Blue Devils
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Miami Hurricanes
North Carolina Tar Heels
Pittsburgh Panthers
Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia Tech Hokies
It's a best-case scenario for Syracuse in that we know we're going to play Boston College every year, we know we're going to play Pitt every year and we even lock in Maryland for a yearly battle, which you know has been something of interest to me for a long time.
Otherwise, Florida State and Clemson are usually pretty good but otherwise I think we lucked out in terms of yearly competition. Obviously, we'll still play Virginia Tech and Miami and all those Coastal nudniks, but I think the ACC got it right.
Check out the reaction from BC fans as well.