There’s plenty of ways to vet a schedule.
Here’s one most folks don’t think about.
SEE RELATED:
For major-college conferences with a league title game, there is only one bye week next season. As a result, it is theoretically helpful to avoid playing a team coming off its bye week, since there’s extra time to prepare and get rested.
(Figuring out whether this is true or not is a project for the summer).
So how does this impact the ACC? Let’s take a look (*-Thursday night game):
| School |
Bye |
Post-bye foe
|
Boston College
|
Oct. 31
|
at Virginia
|
| Clemson |
Oct. 10
|
Wake Forest
|
| Duke |
Oct. 17
|
Maryland |
Florida State
|
Oct. 17
|
at North Carolina*
|
Georgia Tech
|
Nov. 21
|
Georgia |
| Maryland |
Oct. 31
|
at N.C. State
|
| Miami |
Sept. 12
|
Georgia Tech*
|
North Carolina
|
Oct. 17
|
Florida State*
|
N.C. State
|
Oct. 24
|
at Florida State
|
| Virginia |
Sept. 26
|
at North Carolina
|
Virginia Tech
|
Oct. 24
|
North Carolina*
|
Wake Forest
|
Nov. 21
|
at Duke
|
So North Carolina is a post-bye opponent three times, although they share a bye with Florida State heading into their Thursday night game. So not a big deal on that one.
Locally, Maryland and Virginia pop up once, which is about what you’d expect with the vagaries of the schedule.
Teams that aren’t a post-bye opponent in the conference schedule include Boston College, Clemson, Miami and Virginia Tech.
Is it much of an advantage? Who knows. But it is something quirky for a February morning.
—- Patrick Stevens
