ACC eliminates Coastal, Atlantic divisions

On Tuesday, the ACC announced a new four-year football scheduling model, starting in 2023, that eliminates the Atlantic and Coastal divisions in favor of one division in which all 14 teams compete. 

Under the new model, teams will follow a 3-5-5 structure in which they will play three primary opponents annually and face the other 10 league teams twice during the four-year cycle -- once at home and once on the road. The structure was adopted by the league's athletic directors and faculty athletic representatives earlier Tuesday. Under this new schedule, Pitt's primary opponents will be Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech. 

"The future ACC football scheduling model provides significant enhancements for our schools and conference, with the most important being our student-athletes having the opportunity to play every school both home and away over a four-year period," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said. "We appreciate the thoughtful discussions within our membership, including the head football coaches and athletic directors. In the end, it was clear this model is in the best interest of our student-athletes, programs and fans, at this time."

The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the Subway ACC Championship game on the first Saturday of December at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.