ACC : Syracuse placed in Atlantic Division for football; future scheduling formats announced
Syracuse will compete in the Atlantic division for football when it joins the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC announced on Friday.
The conference announced the future divisions for football and the future scheduling formats for men’s and women’s basketball and Olympic sports, as approved by the ACC’s faculty athletic representatives and athletic directors. Syracuse was placed in the Atlantic division and Pittsburgh in the Coastal division for football.
Football
Syracuse will be in a division with Clemson, Florida State, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Boston College and Maryland. The ACC will play a nine-game conference slate, with six games coming against the six teams within the division.
SU’s other three conference games will come against teams from the Coastal Division. Each team has a primary crossover opponent in the other division who it will play each year — Syracuse’s is Pittsburgh, so the two current Big East teams will continue playing each season. The other two conference opponents will rotate.
Clemson went 6-2 in conference play and won the Atlantic Division last season before defeating Virginia Tech to win the ACC title. The Tigers lost to Big East champion West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
Men’s and women’s basketball
The conference will play an 18-game schedule, with each team having a primary partner who it will play twice each year. Syracuse’s primary basketball partner is Boston College. Teams will play each conference opponent at least once every year.
All 14 teams will compete in the men’s and women’s conference tournaments. The tournament formats will be announced at a later date.
Olympic sports
Syracuse will play each conference team at least once in all Olympic team sports as well.
No date has been set for when SU and Pittsburgh will depart from the Big East to the ACC.
‘We have been engaged in discussions on the various options for integrating Pitt and Syracuse since early last fall,’ ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in the release. ‘It’s a tremendous tribute to the leadership at our schools that we will be able to seamlessly add Pitt and Syracuse at the appropriate time when they become full playing members.’
Published on February 2, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr
