Only 2 more weeks of football articles that have nothing to do with the on-the-field product. Yesterday CBS Sports filled the void by ranking the teams in each conference by non-conference schedules. Check out the full article here to see the rankings for other conferences.
ACC's toughest nonconference schedules
| Rank | Team | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Virginia | AT UCLA, vs. Notre Dame, vs. William & Mary, vs. Boise State |
| 2. | Louisville | vs. Auburn (Atlanta), vs. Houston, vs. Samford, AT Kentucky |
| 3. | Clemson | vs. Wofford, vs. Appalachian State, vs. Notre Dame, AT South Carolina |
| 4. | Virginia Tech | vs. Ohio State, vs. Furman, AT Purdue, AT East Carolina |
| 5. | Pitt | vs. Youngstown State, AT Akron, AT Iowa, vs. Notre Dame |
| 6. | Miami-FL | vs. Bethune-Cookman, AT FAU, vs. Nebraska, AT Cincinnati |
| 7. | Georgia Tech | vs. Alcorn State, Tulane, AT Notre Dame, vs. Georgia |
| 8. | Wake Forest | vs. Elon, AT Army, vs. Indiana, AT Notre Dame |
| 9. | Florida State | vs. Texas State, vs. USF, vs. Chattanooga, AT Florida |
| 10. | Syracuse | vs. Rhode Island, vs. Central Michigan, vs. LSU, AT USF |
| 11. | Boston College | vs. Maine, vs. Howard, vs. Northern Illinois, vs. Notre Dame (Boston) |
| 12. | Duke | AT Tulane, vs. North Carolina Central, vs. Northwestern, AT Army |
| 13. | NC State | vs. Troy, vs. Eastern Kentucky, AT Old Dominion, AT South Alabama |
| 14. | North Carolina | vs. South Carolina (Charlotte), vs. North Carolina A&T, vs. Illinois, vs. Delaware |
If you're in the Triangle, good luck seeing any quality non-conference opponents this season. Also noteworthy, is FSU's #9 ranking which makes me wonder if a 1 loss Seminoles team would be excluded from the College Football Playoff. On the other hand, Clemson may be able to get away with it.
Notes from CBS Sports
ACC: The ACC nonconference schedule is one of extremes. Nearly a third of their 56 nonconference games are played on the road. No league plays a higher percentage of road games. The ACC also schedules the highest percentage of nonconference games against major conference teams.
On the other hand, no league plays more FCS opponents. The ACC is the only conference where every member plays an FCS school, and this year, Boston College and North Carolina will play two each. That's 16 FCS games, or one more than the Big Ten and the Pac-12 combined. If you go to an ACC home nonconference game, there's almost a 50-50 chance you'll see an FCS team on the field also.
In the future, the ACC will adopt the same scheduling model as the SEC. Teams will be required to play one game against another major conference school. Notre Dame, which plays five ACC schools per year anyway, and BYU count toward that standard. Games against FCS schools will still be allowed, which is a good thing because that would require quite a scheduling overhaul if they weren't.
Clemson, which I have projected to the playoff this season, will play at South Carolina and get Notre Dame at home. Louisville plays SEC foes Auburn in Atlanta and at Kentucky. Virginia Tech gets a taste of the Big Ten when the Hokies host Ohio State and travel to Purdue. Nine ACC teams play two major opponents.
