How the ACC can keep the Noles in the fold

A guy named Hokie Mark is doing some creative thinking and deep number crunching on his site ACC Football Rx. His goal is restoring glory to the league's gridiron image. And his latest column is about FSU and the Big 12. It includes some smart suggestions that would not only be good for the Noles, but for the ACC and its fans, as well. One in particular we like:

"Our analysis shows that North/South divisions will also increase attendance at every ACC game by about 933 fans per game. That makes sense for FSU because they would be adding Georgia Tech (the closest ACC school), as well as UNC (the 6th closest), while dropping BC and Syracuse (the 2 furthest campuses)."

Even if the Big 12 rumor is just that, it still makes damn good sense. The current division split seems to have been determined by drawing names out of a hat. A great example is FSU and Boston College in the Atlantic. The two schools, located over 1,300 miles apart, will never become a rivalry that fans embrace. The Noles and Georgia Tech would obviously be.

FSU fans love making the occasional trek to Atlanta -- especially the many who live in the area. Doing it every other year would help elevate the series to a bonafide rivalry. And Tech coming to Doak would sell a ton more tickets than teeing it up against B.C. (unless the Eagles are ever blessed with another Matt Ryan-quality QB).

It's a win-win, oh-so-logical move, it must have crossed John Stafford's mind. If so, now's the time to start getting serious about division realignments and other actions to make ACC Football relevant and respected.

Comments

[BC]

This makes so much sense!! I hate the BC game. We already play UM every year. With the budget shortfall, realligning makes sense just for travel considerations!

[Marc]

What do you do with the 4 North Carolina Schools? Which one do you put in the Northern Division? Unless you add two more school (say Rutgers and Notre Dame) to the northern division then you have one of those schools in different divisions.