Miami Herald Blog - FSU, UM to SEC; USF to ACC

[Atlanta Bull]

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gator_clause/

Miami and Florida State to the SEC? Here's how it could happen

GAINESVILLE -- There was plenty going on in Indianapolis last weekend other than basketball.

Behind the scenes, powerbrokers were discussing potentially dramatic changes to the sport of college football. There was talk of the Big Ten adding five schools and forming a 16-team mega-conference. There was talk of the Southeastern Conference following suit. Nothing could happen. Everything could happen.

How does Miami and Florida State joining the SEC sound to Gators fans? How does it sound to Canes and Noles? Don't laugh. It could happen. It's unlikely, but it's not folly. (OK, maybe it is, but whatever.) Here's how it could go down ...

College athletics as we know it teetering on a knife's edge. It's an arms race, folks, plain and simple. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Big Ten presidents met in Indianapolis last weekend to discuss the possibility off adding one, three or five teams. Eleven teams currently play football in the Big Ten.

The Big Ten wants a playoff. The conference is seriously considering expansion. Let me put this the most elementary way possible, the Big Ten wants to try and be richer and better than the SEC. How to do that? There are a several ways.

1. Add Notre Dame, bringing Big Ten football to 12 teams.

2. Notre Dame chooses to remain independent in football and the Big Ten adds one school from another conference. (Big East or Big 12, most likely).

3. Add Notre Dame and two schools from another conference.

5. Notre Dame chooses to remain independent and the Big Ten adds three schools.

4. Add Notre Dame and steal four schools from other conferences to form college football's first mega-conference. A Big 16 to rule all.

5. Notre Dame chooses to remain independent and the Big Ten adds five schools from other conferences to ... you guessed it... form college football's first mega-conference to rule all.

Or maybe not.

For the fun of it, let's say the Big Ten becomes the Big 16 and adds Notre Dame, Louisville, West Virginia, Pitt and Cincinnati. (There are other possible variations, obviously, but let's stick with these teams just because, geographically, it makes for some interesting rivalries.) As you can plainly see, this would be a mega-conference that would trump even the SEC.

Would the SEC stand pat and allow itself to fall behind the new Big 16? That doesn't seem very SECish, if you ask me. The SEC (God bless Roy Kramer and Mike Slive) enjoys being the top dog of college football. Fans demand it. Alumni demand it. Heck, even politicians demand it. Ahh, politics. That's where this whole conference-expansion speculation gets really interesting.

With the Big 16 in place, the SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference are now feeling the pressure. Does the ACC add the football schools of the old Big East, bringing the ACC to 16 teams? Will the SEC follow suit and pilfer the ACC and/or Big 12? This brings us to the oh-so-titillating opportunity for the SEC to make a play for four more major football schools.

From the west, the SEC adds Texas and Texas A&M. From the east, the SEC adds Miami and Florida State. Take that, Big 16.

(Before we play make believe and realign the conferences, keep in mind that Notre Dame is the X-factor in all this. If Notre Dame joins the Big Ten then things could get interesting very quickly.)

NEW SEC

SEC WEST

Alabama

Arkansas

Auburn 

LSU 

Mississippi

Mississippi State

Texas

Texas A&M

SEC EAST

Florida

Florida State

Georgia

Kentucky

Miami

South Carolina

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

NEW ACC

ACC NORTH

Boston College

Connecticut

Maryland

Rutgers

Syracuse

Virginia

Virginia Tech

ACC SOUTH

Clemson

Duke

Georgia Tech

North Carolina

N.C. State

South Florida

Wake Forest

NEW BIG 16

BIG 16 EAST

Cincinnati

Indiana

Louisville

Ohio State

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Purdue

Wisconsin

BIG 16 WEST

Illinois

Iowa

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Northwestern

Notre Dame

West Virginia

The Big 12 could possibly add Texas Christian and Southern Methodist to take the place of Texas and Texas A&M. The remaining schools in the Big East do not play football: Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence and DePaul. All of Notre Dame's sports would move to the Big 16.

Bottom line: Florida, Florida State and Miami would play EVERY YEAR! And, maybe, the possibility for a college football playoff seems more likely. Wow, OK, let's not go overboard here.

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gator_clause/#ixzz0kqCiAmmu

[smazza]

this seems like best case scenario but acc would be by  far weakest football conference

[cygnus34]

Miami would never leave the A.C.C. for the SEC.  The CANES turned down the SEC before Arkansas was asked to join.  I do not see any school leaving the A.C.C.

[cubuffsdoug]

The article lost some cred when it said Louisville, WVU and UC to the Big 10.  One reason why only select schools appear on Big 10 list is because it has to do with an academic group which all Big 10 members belong as well as the potential candidates.  Perhaps the writer of the article is not aware of this.  With that being said the landscape would be different because WVU, UL and UC would have to go elsewhere

[Danm1983]

I wish more of these "reporters/writers" would do some research before they just start playing Pin the Team on the Conference.

Ohio State would never let Cincinnati in..maybe in the other division.

Canes don't want SEC, Florida won't let it happen. Florida WOULD let FSU in, they play yearly anyways, it would just count for more than pride/bragging rights.

They left Rutgers and Syracuse out of the Big Ten. Those would be some of the FIRST teams the Big Ten would take, regardless of ND's move.

Louisville in the Big Ten? Not a bad call. Louisville is more of an SEC team I think. But Clemson would get the call before most of those other ones. Clemson is an SEC style school stuck in the ACC.

USF would be a good fit in the ACC, and a better fit if FSU left. Keeping just 2 FL schools in the ACC would keep balance, and the Miami/USF rivalry will grow.

The writer puts Notre Dame in the division without its rivals. Notre Dame pretty much plays Michigan, Mich St, and Purdue every year traditionally. And putting Ohio State and Michigan in separate divisions....I guess unless they contract to play every year from division to division, you're only killing off a 100+ year rivalry, no biggie  :

Wisconsin in the east division? Yeah, that makes sense...they're only the 3rd most western Big Ten team.

Let me fix it for you, uninformed writer who jumped on the "expansion" bandwagon and needed some readers:

Former Big 12 team

Former Big East team

Former ACC team

Former C-USA team

Former WAC team

Former MWC team

SEC West - TX, TX A&M, AR, LSU, Ole Miss, MS State, AL, Auburn

SEC East  -  FL, FSU, GA, SC, Clemson, TN, Vanderbilt, KY

Big Ten West - MN, IA, WI, Northwestern, IL, Missouri, Indiana, Purdue

Big Ten East - Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers

ACC North - BC, UConn, Louisville, MD, West Virginia, VA, VA Tech, Cincinnati

ACC South - USF, Miami, GA Tech, UNC, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, UCF

Big 12 North - Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force, Tulsa

Big 12 South - Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, UTEP, Houston, TCU, New Mexico

Pac 10 North - WA, WA St, OR, OR St, Cal, Stanford, Boise State, Utah

Pac 10 South - AZ, AZ St, USC, UCLA, San Diego St, UNLV, Nevada, BYU

[tampabull]

Former Big 12 team

Former Big East team

Former ACC team

Former C-USA team

Former WAC team

Former MWC team

SEC West - TX, TX A&M, AR, LSU, Ole Miss, MS State, AL, Auburn

SEC East  -  FL, FSU, GA, SC, Clemson, TN, Vanderbilt, KY

Big Ten West - MN, IA, WI, Northwestern, IL, Missouri, Indiana, Purdue

Big Ten East - Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers

ACC North - BC, UConn, Louisville, MD, West Virginia, VA, VA Tech, Cincinnati

ACC South - USF, Miami, GA Tech, UNC, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, UCF

Big 12 North - Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force, Tulsa

Big 12 South - Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, UTEP, Houston, TCU, New Mexico

Pac 10 North - WA, WA St, OR, OR St, Cal, Stanford, Boise State, Utah

Pac 10 South - AZ, AZ St, USC, UCLA, San Diego St, UNLV, Nevada, BYU

The PAC 10 would never let the majority of these new schools in.  washington, cal, stanford, usc, and ucla only want schools that compete on the field and also academically.

[Danm1983]

i know.

utah and unlv may be the only ones with legit shots. byu has some religious and political differences compared to cal/stanford.

pac 10 and big 12 will be bumped down if the other 3 conferences go big, as they have little choices to expand upon.

the big 12 does have some better teams to pick up on though...big 12 could snatch up byu and some of the better mwc teams, but the pac 10 doesn't look like it will go beyond 12 unless it changes it's requirements.

[smazza]

the landscape is changing drastically

[Hurricane Mutiny]

Miami would never leave the A.C.C. for the SEC.  The CANES turned down the SEC before Arkansas was asked to join.  I do not see any school leaving the A.C.C.

It it absolutely NOT true that "Miami would never leave the ACC for the SEC".  That is simply not true.

Also, it is NOT true that Miami "turned down the SEC before Arkansas was asked to join".  Miami was given an invitation by the SEC before Arkansas and South Carolina, but we were only given 24 hours to take it or leave it.  President Foote asked for a couple of weeks to do a study and submit the invitation to the Board of Trustees, but was turned down.

Bottom line is that if the SEC goes to 16 teams, it is nearly impossible to find 4 comparable teams outside of the current footprint.  Therefore, if you are adding Florida schools, it is very powerful to bring in both UM and F$U, as it is less likely that either one would go individually.  Neither of us have a long-term allegiance to the ACC and are more closely linked together as rivals, both as independents and as ACC members.

I'm happy with the ACC, but the only 2 conferences that you don't turn down are the Big 10 (for academics alone) and the SEC (for sports alone).

SEC membership would allow Miami to bring back numerous sports, including men's golf.

Trust me, if the SEC offers both Miami and F$U, we're both going.  Miami isn't sticking with an uncertain ACC over a 16-team SEC.

[macphisto]

Miami would never leave the A.C.C. for the SEC.  The CANES turned down the SEC before Arkansas was asked to join.  I do not see any school leaving the A.C.C.

I believe that both Miami and FSU turned down the SEC.  I think they still would too.  They'd be much smaller fish in the SEC pond and would be lucky to win the SEC East twice in a decade while competing with UF, Tennessee, and Georgia.  I think the SEC might have better luck trying to lure Clemson and Georgia Tech, possibly even Virginia and/or VT.  And they could conceivably offer West Virginia, Lousiville, or even Cincy (Cincinnati considers itself southern and as I native Ohioan I can attest that most Ohioans consider it practically a part of Kentucky - we actually often call it Cincitucky).

The SEC has tons of options if they want to go to 16.  USF could even be an option, though I think we're down on the list.