For Georgia Tech, the cost of schedule balance will be a second consecutive road game at Death Valley.
The ACC granted the school’s request to put Clemson on its even-year home schedule, solving a scheduling quirk that has made season-ticket sales lopsided in alternating years. The league released each team’s opponents for the 2013 season Friday.
“From a competitive standpoint, we’d much prefer to be playing them here, but to correct it over the long term” is worth the second consecutive road game, Tech associate athletic director Ryan Bamford said.
Clemson and Georgia, traditionally the Yellow Jackets’ two biggest draws, have been on the same home-road rotation on Tech’s schedule since 1994, at Bobby Dodd Stadium in odd-numbered years. The schedule became even more unbalanced when the ACC’s split into two divisions in 2006 put Virginia Tech on the same cycle. Tech officials got their chance at an amendment when the addition of Pittsburgh and Syracuse required a new scheduling format.
“We talked to them back in the fall and just said, ‘Look, if you’re totally re-doing this thing, if you could consider this, we wouldn’t be opposed to it,” Bamford said.
The imbalance has made budgeting a challenge, as athletic-department revenues have spiked and dropped with greater demand for season tickets in the odd years. The 2013 fiscal-year budget, for instance, was actually $623,000 lower than fiscal-year 2012 because of the projected decline in ticket revenue for the 2012 football season.
“I think in the long run, this is a good thing for us,” Bamford said. “I think our fans will feel that in future years, it’s a good deal.”
Tech will be one of six ACC teams that will repeat a 2012 road trip in order to set the conference schedule in order. Teams will play eight league games, six within the division, one against a permanent crossover partner (Tech’s continues to be Clemson) and one against a second inter-divisional team on a rotating basis.
For 2013, Tech’s will be Syracuse, which will make its first appearance at Bobby Dodd Stadium. In fact, Tech will play both the Orange and the Panthers at home, the only team in the league with home games against the new members.
The rotation of inter-division opponents has not been set. Teams will not play home-and-home in successive years, however.
Tech’s seven home games will be against Alabama A&M, Elon, Georgia, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia Tech. The five road opponents will be BYU, Clemson, Duke, Miami and Virginia.
The schedule with dates is expected to be released in the first half of February. Tech already is contracted to play Elon on Aug. 31, BYU on Oct. 12, Alabama A&M on Nov. 23 and Georgia on Nov. 30.
With the way the calendar falls, the 2013 season will have two bye weeks. Tech has requested its byes for the week after the BYU game and a week in September. The Jackets could conceivably play the Cougars in a night game, which would bring them back to Atlanta early morning Oct. 13, less-than-ideal circumstances to begin preparations for a league game.
Bamford said he also expected that Tech will be assigned a Thursday night game after not having one last season because of Tech’s participation in the Labor Day opener against Virginia Tech. The Hokies, who played the Jackets on Thursday nights in 2010 and 2011, figure to be a potential opponent.
About the Author
