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
