Miami AD Dan Radakovich gives further details on potential ACC scheduling changes

Miami athletic director Dan Radokovich spoke about the possibility of an ACC scheduling change in 2023, providing many details about the new system. According to David Teel of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the new conference leader reveals the conference is moving closer to a 3-5-5 system which eliminates football divisions.

With 14 current ACC members, the new scheduling change would provide each team with three annual opponents – allowing established rivalries to continue – while the other 10 opponents are split into two groups which rotate onto the schedule every other season.

According to the report, which used information given by Radakovich, the next step in the process is to consult with ESPN on the details and how they would impact the current television deal.

The new scheduling format would mark the first move away from the divisional format by a Power Five conference which holds more members than can play in every season. The Big 12 notably plays without divisions but the 10 teams face all nine opponents each year with just three non-conference games.

More on ACC scheduling change

Scheduling has been a big topic of conversation at the annual ACC meetings, including eliminating divisions as early as 2023, as first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. That’s just one piece of the puzzle, though, as Thamel explained in a Twitter thread.

“One model being discussed is each football program having three permanent opponents — but not necessarily pods of 3 — and the other five programs rotating on and off the schedule every other year,” Thamel wrote on Twitter. “There’s also a potential model with 2 permanent opponents and 6 teams rotating on and off, in the same manner.

“These models would allow every ACC team to host every other ACC team every four years. This would bring more variety to the schedule.”

The ACC currently has two seven-team divisions: the Atlantic and the Coastal. That model is for football, men’s soccer and baseball, though, and Notre Dame will not be impacted in football because it remains an independent school in that sport. Syracuse does not have a baseball team and would not have to deal with any changes in that regard, either.

The league moved to divisional play in football in 2005 and the two winners compete in the ACC championship game each year. This past year, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest squared off in the game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.