Which teams will suffer due to division-less college football?

3. Wake Forest might be a victim of scheduling in a new ACC

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are coming off of one of the best seasons in school history. Wake Forest won 11 games and played for the ACC title for the first time since 2006. Unfortunately for the Deacons, their geography would put them at a disadvantage in an ACC without conferences.

If the conference moved to a 3-3-5 model of scheduling (3-non conference games, three protected rivalries, and five rotating conference games), those three protected rivalries could put them at a disadvantage.

Geographically, Wake Forest is on Tobacco Road. They could get Duke, North Carolina, and North Carolina State. The conference would likely split the Carolina teams. Wake could get Virginia Tech, Clemson, or Florida State as its third team.

The Deacons have had enough of an uphill climb playing in the Atlantic looking up at Clemson, but you cannot deny the job Dave Clawson has done. There are, however, some factors that hold them back. They are the smallest school in the Power Five, so they don’t have the resources other schools have.

Moving to play with divisions would only deepen those issues. Wake would still be a viable team in the ACC but not a conference contender.