The buzz around the Atlantic Coast Conference is that a division-less conference for football is coming soon. If that happens, it would require a schedule change for the conference.
Playing the schedule, the teams would rotate opponents each year but have three permanent opponents on their schedule. While nothing is for sure, it’s a fun exercise to predict who each team would have on their annual schedule.
For UNC, Athlon Sports believes the Tar Heels would face Duke, N.C. State and Virginia in that rotation. Here’s what they said about that prediction:
Under this set up, North Carolina won’t have to schedule non-conference games against Wake Forest, but they also won’t be playing them every year. Duke and NC State are the real local rivals and the Tar Heels and the Cavaliers have played each other in the “South’s Oldest Rivalry” 126 times, eclipsed in the FBS by only Wisconsin and Minnesota.
N.C. State and Duke make a lot of sense as they have played each year under this schedule matrix. But the third opponent could depend on what the ACC wants to do.
UNC and Virginia have the South’s Oldest Rivalry but like Duke and N.C. State, the Tar Heels are down the road from Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons would make sense as well.
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