ACC discussing adding 9th league game, but how?

And then there was one.

With the SEC joining the Big Ten and Big 12 by playing nine conference games, the ACC is now the only power league that will play eight conference games. But for how long?

Also, how would the ACC actually schedule nine league games with 17 members since, well, it’s mathematically impossible.

“We have the highest rated academic schools of any Power Four conference,” an ACC AD told On3. “We’ll figure it out.”

Last week, the ACC’s ADs discussed adding a ninth conference game. It’s been an ongoing topic within the ACC, but with the SEC’s announcement on Thursday, this will become even more of a focal point for the ACC.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, at last month’s ACC media days, said the league has discussed “several times” in his five years as commissioner adding a ninth conference game.

“If the SEC ends up going to nine and maybe we end up going to nine, I think there’s a few challenges,” Phillips said. “Those (ACC-SEC) rivalry games that we really enjoy, I think that the fans really enjoy, I think some of those go away, and it now focuses on everybody’s conference schedule than it is a mix of conference schedule and nonconference.

“Also, it’s a challenge for us with an odd number of schools at 17 and how you exactly work that out. That in itself, there’s some difficulty there. At the end of the day, I like where our league is. I like where we’re at in eight games because we’re playing the type of caliber (of non-conference games), but we’ll adjust if we have to. I think all of this remains a work in progress.”

The ACC has been working on various models how to schedule a nine-game league slate with 17 teams.

One option would be 12 ACC teams play nine conference games and the remaining five ACC teams would play only eight – but count its game against Notre Dame for its ninth ACC game.

The biggest drawback to that, a source said, is Notre Dame is already playing those ACC opponents annually. So whether it counts as an ACC game or not is irrelevant since the ACC wouldn’t be adding any new games with Notre Dame, it would not increase the league’s media rights value.