ACC Football: Rule change for schedules has ramifications for every team

The ACC adopted a new rule when it comes to scheduling conference games, brought on by one coach’s complaint, that will be felt by all teams.

Last week in Charlotte, officials from all 14 football playing schools in the ACC met to discuss a variety of issues and meet with the media for a few days. At the same time, some actual work got done – including one rule change that was brought on by the whining of a Coastal Division coach that will have ramifications for every member school.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the conference voted on a rule change when it comes to scheduling games that will now only allow for there to only be one game each season where a member school (such as Florida State) will play a game in which they are playing a team who had a bye week the weekend before.

The reason for the change came from after Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson threw a hissy fit about the fact that the Yellow Jackets have three instances this season where they will play a game against a team who was off the weekend before:

"Johnson contended that ACC opponents were requesting to have open dates before playing the Jackets (teams are allowed to make scheduling requests of the ACC, such as placement of the bye week or a home date on a particular weekend) and that the league was granting those requests. The league has denied that such an allowance exists."

Johnson went so far as to saying to the AJC, when the 2017 schedule came out, that the ACC was “screwing” the Yellow Jackets. It should be noted in that same article that both Georgia Tech and Florida State had a combined 10 teams with a bye week before playing each school between 2013 and this coming season.

However, you didn’t see Jimbo Fisher complaining…because he is a man and not a baby like Paul Johnson. The schedule and the conference is not what is “screwing” the Yellow Jackets – not being as good as the teams they are playing is the problem.

The change will not include be counted on games where both teams were off the weekend before, but means ACC schools like Florida State and everyone else could have to play more back-to-back road games and have short weeks (Saturday followed by a Thursday or Friday) as a result.

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How about this for a new rule? You only get to complain about the conference schedule when you go better than 5-11 over a two year span, which is Georgia Tech’s record in the ACC over the last two seasons. How does that sound, Little Paul?