Inside The Panthers

Pitt Welcomes Three New ACC Schools

The Pitt Panthers welcomed the three new ACC Schools in SMU from the American and both Cal and Stanford from the Pac-12.

Dominic Campbell

Oct 14, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; A Pittsburgh Panthers helmet on the sidelines against the Louisville Cardinals during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 14, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; A Pittsburgh Panthers helmet on the sidelines against the Louisville Cardinals during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers welcomed three schools in SMU from the American Athletic Conference and both Cal and Stanford, as they joined the ACC officially on July 1.

Conference realignment, due to football, changed the landscape of the Power 5 conferences drastically last summer. The Pac-12 saw both USC and UCLA choose to leave for the Big Ten in August 2022, but a failure to reach a new grant of rights, where schools make money from media rights, led to the big dissolution of the conference.

Oregon and Washington joined USC and UCLA in the Big Ten and then Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah departed for the Big 12. Stanford and Cal soon decided to join the ACC, leaving just Oregon State and Washington State in the Pac-12, who will compete in the West Coast Conference (WCC) in a number of sports in the 2024-25 academic calendar year.

SMU got a big boost as they left a Group of 5 conference in the American and landed in the ACC.

They had a great football program in the 1980s, before the NCAA gave them the "death penalty" for using a slush fund and paying players and their families under the table. The NCAA cancelled their 1987 season and SMU cancelled their 1988 season as well

The Mustangs finished 11-3 last season and with a No. 23 ranking, the first time in almost four decades they ended a season ranked.

SMU has a large and wealthy alumni base that will help the football and other sport teams through this transition as they will play against much tougher teams than they previously did.

All three schools joined the ACC and accepted terms that drastically reduced their revenue shares. Stanford and Cal earn about 30% of what the other schools earn annually, around $8 million per school compared to $35-$40 million of the others. SMU, reportedly, will not earn any money from revenue sharing, and instead will make their money from success of their programs, such as a bowl game payout or making the NCAA Tournament.

The money that all three of the schools agreed not to make goes into the fund for teams that achieve success, rewarding ACC schools for their teams' performance in posteason play in revenue sports like football and basketball.

ACC Sports for SMU, Cal and Stanford

All three of these teams will compete in a number of sports in the ACC next season, where they'll try to make their mark on the conference.

For men's sports, they all will play in football, basketball, golf, soccer, swimming & diving and tennis. For women's sports, they all will play in basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track and field (indoor & outdoor) and volleyball.

Cal and Stanford will also compete in baseball, cross country, and track and field (indoor & outdoor) on the men's side. The Pac-12 duo also compete in field hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse, and softball on the women's side.

Stanford will compete in both men's and women's fencing, bringing the number to five schools, joining Boston College, Duke, North Carolina and Notre Dame. Stanford is also now the seventh ACC program to compete in wrestling, joining Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pitt, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Impact of SMU, Stanford and Cal on Pitt

The addition of these three schools has impacts on Pitt for all the sports they play in.

Pitt will play all three teams in football, basketball, soccer and swimming & diving on the men's side and in basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, track and field (indoor & outdoor) and volleyball on the women's side.

The Panthers play both the Cardinal and the Golden Bears in baseball, cross country and track and field (indoor & outdoor) on the men's side and in gymnastics, lacrosse and softball on the women's side. They will compete against the Cardinal in wrestling as well.

The additions of these teams changed football schedules. The ACC got rid of divisions following the 2022 season to encourage a diversity of games. This had a team playing three other ACC teams home-and-away twice from 2023-26 and then all of the other 10 ACC teams home-and-away once, so everyone played everyone.

The ACC kept the eight-game slate for conference play for football and no divisions with the additions, but changed the future schedules.

Each team now has just two home-and-away opponents that they'll have from 2024-30, and will play each ACC team at least twice during that time.

Pitt will play Cal, SMU and Stanford three times over the next seven seasons in football. This includes Cal at home on Oct. 12 and SMU on the road on Nov. 4 this season. The other games against Cal come at home in 2027 and on the road in 2028, SMU at home in 2027 and 2030, and against Stanford on the road in 2025 and 2030 and at home in 2029.

ACC men's basketball keeps a 20-game slate, but changes how many times everyone plays each other. Each team has two primary opponents like previous, but just one repeat opponent, compared to four previously. Each team plays the other 14 teams once, for seven home games and seven away games.

Pitt will keep Syracuse and Louisville as primary opponents and North Carolina will serve as next season's repeat opponent. They'll play Cal and Stanford at home and SMU on the road as well.

The changes also affected volleyball, as ACC teams now play 20 games instead of 18 and three teams home-and-away instead of four.

Pitt will play SMU as one of those home-and-away teams, home on Oct. 9 and on the road on Oct. 12, and host Cal and Stanford on Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, respectively.

SMU won the American last season, which is surely an upgrade over former home-and-away opponent Syracuse, who had the lowest RPI of any Power Five team last season with a record of 2-26.

ACC women's basketball will keep the same number of games at 18, but there is now only one home-and-away opponent over the next two seasons. This is compared to the four that the league brought in with the start of the 2019-20 season, when they increased the conference slate from 16 games to 18 games.

The Panthers and Mustangs will play each other home-and-away, which replaces previous home-and-away opponents in Boston College, Louisville, Notre Dame and Syracuse.

ACC men's and women's soccer will keep it an eight game slate, despite the additions. Pitt men's soccer travels to SMU on Sept. 7 and plays Cal at home on Oct. 11 and Pitt women's soccer will travel to the Bay Area, facing Cal on Sept. 26 and Stanford on Sept. 29.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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