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The ACC's athletic directors did not come to an agreement on which scheduling option to pursue for future seasons.

(Dennis Nett | Syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. — ESPN has told ACC schools to pick one of two options for its future football schedule options. The league's athletic directors haven't come to a consensus.

David Teel, a reporter with The Daily Press, reported Friday that the league discussed its options for more than an hour via teleconference but could not reach a conclusion on which option was preferable.

As part of its deal to create an ACC Network, ESPN required the league to either expand to nine conference games and play a power-five school during non-conference play, or to play eight conference games but two games against power-five schools.

The mandates would provide the ACC Network more quality games, making the channel more desirable for cable companies. The channel is scheduled to come to television in 2019.

ESPN's Brett McMurphy reported that during the league's spring meetings Syracuse football coach Dino Babers said he preferred eight conference games but was not against the idea of nine. That comment, would have come before the mandate of playing two power-five games.

Former Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross was a proponent of nine ACC games, largely because he wanted the Orange to play in recruiting markets like Miami and Atlanta as frequently as possible. He also felt the conference felt more like a league with more frequent crossover games.

Gross also believed a nine-game schedule would have also create a more cohesive conference, with Syracuse facing opponents like Miami and Georgia Tech every six years, instead of every 12 years. It's unclear what current athletic director John Wildhack prefers.

The schools fighting most actively against a nine-game conference schedule are those that play marquee rivalry games, a group that includes the league's top football programs, Clemson and Florida State.

With annual rivalry games against South Carolina and Florida, respectively, as well as obligated games against Notre Dame, the schedules for those programs could become exceptionally difficult with a switch to nine conference games.

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