Since I have massive insomnia, I decided to spend my time surveying general fan base perception of our new “permanent rivalries” about this realignment.
1. Virginia Tech is just as disgusted to have Wake as their opponent as we are to have them. They frequently said things like we are the worst team to get and of course pick us as an easy win. They’re also mad that their whopping 30 year rivalry with Miami is over. Consensus by both fan bases is that outside of playing the less desired team in the states of VA or NC, this is a boring matchup that adds nothing to the schedule.
2. Georgia Tech only minorly more enthused about drawing Wake. Also, based on even less actual evidence than VT, feel that we’re an easy matchup. Fanbase seems genuinely sad that they lost their “rivalry” with Duke, which was surprising. Again, outside of a visit to the other’s state, fanbase agree that this is not a desired matchup.
3. Duke fans seem genuinely thrilled with their schedule of course. I would be too. Half the comments on DBR are about how screwed Wake got in this process and the loss of the Wake- State game. Duke seems happy to play us. Other than the fact that they do nothing to help our SOS and have zero game atmosphere, which could have been balanced out with two other decent opponents, I’d guess our fanbase is happy to keep them too.
State fans seem almost as pissed about losing us as we are about losing them. To their credit, they almost universally wanted us over Duke to protect the rivalry, despite the easier W at Duke.
All in all, it’s impossible to believe that GT or VT we’re asking for Wake. My guess is that the one mutual match we got was Duke. I’d have preferred almost any opponent over the other two outside of possibly Pitt, LV and Cuse. Selfishly, even BC brought out our huge fanbase in that area and felt like an exciting matchup because we’re at least similar schools fanbase wise. That said, I’d obviously have much, much preferred to keep State as a first priority, followed by UNC, then almost any other original ACC team, followed by teams that actually have an exciting fan atmosphere like FSU or Miami and have the potential to boost our SOS. It’s almost universally agreed that we got absolutely hosed here, which surprises me from Currie. I can only conclude that we just have very little social and political capital in this ACC.