Originally published at: Tier Ranking ACC Schools the Big 12 Should Go After If the ACC Were to Collapse
Another round of conference realignment appears to be bubbling. Earlier this week, it came out that Memphis is trying to get into the Big 12, and then news broke Thursday via Inside Carolina that North Carolina is eyeing a move to the SEC, perhaps when exit fees dip come 2030. The ACC has been on some shaky ground of late, trying to keep Clemson and Florida State happy after the round of conference musical chairs that saw OU and Texas go to the SEC and the Big Ten essentially gut the Pac-12 by taking USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington. When the Pac was gutted, the Big 12 took advantage, swiping some other prominent schools, which nixed the Pac-12’s Power Conference status. Should a similar fate await the ACC, I thought it’d be fun to look at the ACC schools and group them together as potential Big 12 candidates. The Big 12 is already at 16 schools, so if or how much it would want to expand is a question within itself, but let’s have a little fun on a Friday. The Belles of the Ball: Florida State, Miami, Clemson These are schools that, if available, the Big 12 should probably…
If the ACC were to implode (something I’m not predicting), here’s how I think it could go down with the goal being 20 members max:
The SEC takes Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, and Virginia (I’m basing this on Greg Flugar at PATC, which I highly recommend if you’re into realignment news).
Next would be the Big 10. They get their white whale by adding Notre Dame and take Miami to get a foothold in the Southeast.
After that comes the Big 12. I think they add Louisville, NC State, Pitt, and Virginia Tech with Duke and Georgia Tech being in the mix.
If this were to happen, the Big 12 could go to a pod system:
East: NC State, Pitt, Virginia Tech, UCF, West Virginia
Midwest: Cincy, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville
South: Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech
West: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Utah
I’m really not liking the distribution of the ACC teams that you outline here. You are probably correct but it still sucks.
I don’t think UNC and Duke will separate. Neither are big time football, so the basketball rivalry will mean more to keep them together.
Oh I agree. I’m not happy with this consolidation. It’s ruining what made college football so great.
If we get any ACC teams I would really like to dump Cincy, Houston, and UCF. BYU I think I am ok with staying.
Well considering all the intraconference rivalries we’ve lost with the last round of realignment, I think everything is on the table.
Isn’t the ACC contract until 2035.? I know contracts are made to be broken but it’s still going to cost a ship load of cash
N.C. And Duke will never separate because of basketball
I’m anxious to see if the new alignment on NIL will make a pimple on a bulls asx
The issue is that mathematically 2030 would be when its more profitable for a school like FSU to eat the penalty due to the significantly larger payouts available in the SEC or B10. Thus the expectation is somewhere around that date, SEC offers FSU & Clemson, which destabalizes the league and leads to the Big10 poaching Duke and UNC and leaving the other 8 schools in a scramble just like the Pac 12 was in. At that point, landing in the Big12 might be a better outcome for a school like Pitt than remaining in the “new” ACC.
One other thing on realignment: I know its not an ACC team, but don’t lose sight of USF. They have one of the largest enrollments in Florida, are located in the one of the fastest growing cities in America, and are in progress of building a modern, on-campus stadium. They aren’t ready for P4 sports yet, but by 2030, they very well may be. I could see the Big 12 do an expansion of Pitt, Louisville, Miami, and USF. They’d have universities located in the 3 largest cities in Florida, and would pick up natural rivals for WVU (Pitt), UCF (USF), and Cinci (Louisville).
I personally would have no interest in allowing Florida St or Clemson into the B12. Both schools want to financially dominate the ACC. Why wouldn’t they try the same in theB12? Florida St has been very vocal about it, but Clemson does the same , although behind the scenes. The current B12 is going to eventually become a very even distribution to all schools once they cross the new team threshold. At the same time why allow 2 schools to come into the league to gobble up most the championships in football. I would’ve more interested in Pitt, Louisville….not sure about the rest.
Yes that executive order that Trump signed may get things rolling in a better direction. We will see.
As long as you get viewers is what counts. The market only wants eyes on the games and as long as you have that you will be able to command more money. No one in this part of the country wants to see Vanderbilt or NW play The SEC will draw eyes because a lot are competitive games. Same as the B12
Pitt only makes sense to join us considering they and WVU hate each other Both have wrestling and usually good in basketball
I’m not sure about Clemson, Florida St I’m sure would like to come in and be the new Texas and bully their way around.
Pitt and Louisville do make more sense than any others. When it’s all settled I think this will be a good conference, it won’t be a soft conference. The more eyes we get the better it will be
How long do you think it will take schools that get more donors and more and more money for NIL and still see the same results as they did before they started upping their game with money.? Don’t you think after a few years of it they will ask their selves why keep doing it ? It will get old to them fast and cause lots of firings in football and basketball
Well the big donors will for sure ask for heads if they don’t see results. Of course that is the way it has always been so I’m no genius in regard to that. On another note while I haven’t read the executive order that Trump signed I did listen to Nick Saban explain it at a high level. One of the things it does is set up a NIL collective that is supposed to make sure that athletes make some type of marketing/business contribution toward any NIL deal they are part of. That means that you can’t just give a player a bag and have them do nothing for the entity that sourced the money. They have to provide some type of value to earn it or justify them receiving the money. So for example if some car dealer wants to give NIL to a player that player will need to be in a car ad, be spokesman or something involved with the business. If the order works as intended it will at least stop unmitigated pay for play. Of course there is much more needed to reign things in.
Totally understand, but I think they’re here to stay in the Big 12. I think the only way those three would not have been added is if USC and UCLA had announced their departure from Pac 12 around same time OU and Texas announced their departure from the Big 12. Had this happened, I think there would be a chance of seeing a conference composed solely of former Big 12 and Pac 12 members with possibly BYU as a member.
NIL is exactly why Saban quit coaching. If you listened to some of his clips he got tired of kids wanting more and more and agents trying to weasel more money.
There have been some that took the big bonus and then split again after midseason
If they have to make a contribution to the major for many it will help it some. The amounts given now to some are insane to kids that haven’t played a down
Yes I have listened to Saban and his reasons why he stopped coaching. He still subscribes to the idea that the greatest thing that college sports can do is provide academics to many who otherwise couldn’t afford it and through academics and teaching life lessons while in college make significant impacts on young men and women lives going forward. There is a lot of truth in this but unfortunately the corporations and their desire to make money on college sports and who have taken over do not believe in that. They could care less if a student/athlete whom they give a couple of bucs while they are playing college sports end up with no education and back to where they started when they left high school.
The irony of NIL is that most players will earn way more NIL money than they ever do NFL money. Look at Ewers from Texas. He went undrafted and will sign a non-guaranteed, league minimum deal, but he would have easily made a couple million via NIL in the transfer portal.
On the positive side of NIL, I expect you’ll see a significant dropoff in the number juniors declaring early. Again, if you aren’t a first or second rounder, why not stay and make the same money via NIL knowing that the draft will be there next year.