Big news from ACC on football and basketball scheduling today, all affected by Notre Dame.

In football, ACC will scrap plans for nine-game league schedule and stick with eight games.

In men’s basketball, when the Irish come aboard as 15th member, there will still be 18 league games. But a new scheduling format was needed. So ACC announced that Tech will always play UVa and Miami both home and away every year. Not too excited about VT-UM twice a year, though.

Also, ACC announced how they will pick which 12 teams will play in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge each year. It will be based on which teams had the best RPIs the previous season. Obv. the ACC could have just picked the teams that had the best records the previous year or the teams expected to be the best in the upcoming season, but they went with RPIs.

Here’s the news release

ACC Announces Future Scheduling Formats and Policies

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Needham, Mass. (theACC.com) – Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced today future scheduling formats and conference policies as approved by the ACC’s Faculty Athletic Representatives and Athletics Directors. The announcement was made following the annual ACC Fall Business Meetings.

“The addition of Notre Dame gives us an opportunity to reinforce a number of conference rivalries in basketball and Olympic sports while also giving our schools greater flexibility in nonconference football scheduling,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “With Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame joining us, it is an exciting time in our league and our schools have made decisions that position us extremely well for the future.”

A breakdown of the action items are listed below:

Football

With the addition of Notre Dame playing five games annually against ACC teams, the league has determined it will play an eight-game conference schedule for 2013 and beyond.  Divisions, primary crossover partners and rotating opponents from the opposite division will remain consistent to what was previously announced.

Men’s and Women’s Basketball

The ACC will continue to play an 18-game conference schedule with the addition of Notre Dame. The scheduling model will be based on a two-partner format.

Each year, teams will play every league opponent at least once with the two partners playing home and away annually. In addition to the four annual games against partners, the remaining 14 conference games will feature home and away games with two rotating opponents and five home-only games and five road-only games.

The two-primary-partner format preserves competitive balance and builds upon traditional rivalries while providing the opportunity to create new ones.

Boston College – Notre Dame and Syracuse

Clemson – Florida State and Georgia Tech

Duke – North Carolina and Wake Forest

Florida State – Clemson and Miami

Georgia Tech – Clemson and Notre Dame

Maryland – Pitt and Virginia

Miami – Florida State and Virginia Tech

North Carolina – Duke and NC State

NC State – North Carolina and Wake Forest

Notre Dame – Boston College and Georgia Tech

Pitt – Maryland and Syracuse

Syracuse – Boston College and Pitt

Virginia – Maryland and Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech – Miami and Virginia

Wake Forest – Duke and NC State

Following the regular season, the ACC Tournament format will continue to feature all league members. The Tournament will begin with three games on Wednesday, followed by four games on Thursday and Friday, two semifinals on Saturday and the championship game on Sunday. The top four seeds will continue to receive byes into Friday’s quarterfinal round.

In the annual ACC/B1G Challenge, the decision was made to include the 12 teams with the best RPI from the previous year.

Baseball

Beginning with the 2014 season, the ACC Baseball Championship will feature 10 teams in a six-day event. A double-elimination format will be used Tuesday through Friday followed by two single-elimination games on Saturday and the Championship Game on Sunday.

Conference Policy and Procedures

The decision was made that should a member institution be ineligible for postseason competition due to NCAA sanctions, it will be ineligible for regular season or divisional recognition.