The ACC is considering adding an extra game to their current eight-game conference schedule, ESPN reported. Eventually, only eight of those games would be against ACC opponents; the ninth would be against the SEC.
Discussions are merely in their planning stage at this point. It's not even clear (from ESPN's article) whether the SEC game would count towards their conference record (and if it would count towards that of their SEC opponent) or simply become a mandatory, out of conference game.
If the ACC can somehow pull it off, they won't be able to stage every game the last week of the season, as all the ACC-SEC matchups were this year (the best being South Carolina-Clemson). That weekend belongs to the Iron Bowl, Auburn vs. Alabama.
One SEC source didn't think the two leagues could strike a deal against the rest of their commitments, including a contract between the ACC and Notre Dame and a possible one between the SEC and the Big 12, according to ESPN.
Aware of that reality, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive's goal is to establish a schedule format for 2016.
"Achieving that objective involves exploring as many options as possible, which we are currently doing," Slive told ESPN. "Anything more is pure speculation."
Likewise, ACC Commissioner John Swofford highlighted the various factors at play before a decision could be made.
"That's an important decision we'll need to make in the near future," Swofford said. "... Several factors come into play there. One is the college football playoffs; what serves us best in terms of giving our teams the best opportunity to be in the playoff; and what gives us the most opportunities going forward television-wise, and how does that fold into any discussions about a potential channel. Those are discussions that will continue."
