Notre Dame to ACC July 1

[Water Pony]

The ACC is toast as a big boy conference. Its only a matter of time and no, ESPN will not be there to bail them out this time. They stand to lose AT LEAST the following schools:

UVA
UNC
GT
VT
NC State
Clemson
FSU

Could potentially lose in addition to the above:

Miami
Duke
Louisville
Boston College


Depending on the severity of the defections, SMU and Houston stand an excellent chance of being invited to what is left of the ACC. That conference would still be a dramatic upgrade over where we have been since the SWC.

What is revealing about the two lists is big state schools vs. privates (U of L was private, not that long ago.) This is a reminder on the value and media attention on large schools with large student bodies and alumni/fan base. As a result, this increases the chances that what is left of ACC will be smaller and primary driven by private schools. Having said that, SMU would fit nicely into this peer group, along with public schools, such as Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis plus good BB schools, UConn and Temple.

[CalallenStang]

The ACC is toast as a big boy conference. Its only a matter of time and no, ESPN will not be there to bail them out this time. They stand to lose AT LEAST the following schools:

UVA
UNC
GT
VT
NC State
Clemson
FSU

Could potentially lose in addition to the above:

Miami
Duke
Louisville
Boston College


Depending on the severity of the defections, SMU and Houston stand an excellent chance of being invited to what is left of the ACC. That conference would still be a dramatic upgrade over where we have been since the SWC.

What is revealing about the two lists is big state schools vs. privates (U of L was private, not that long ago.) This is a reminder on the value and media attention on large schools with large student bodies and alumni/fan base. As a result, this increases the chances that what is left of ACC will be smaller and primary driven by private schools. Having said that, SMU would fit nicely into this peer group, along with public schools, such as Houston, Cincinnati and Memphis plus good BB schools, UConn and Temple.

UofL has been a public university for a long, long time. However, it was owned by the city of Louisville until 1969 before being turned over to the state in 1970

[StallionsModelT]

The best case REALISTIC scenario for SMU is that the ACC gets gutted and tries to rebuild back to 14 teams. If they want to get to 14 then SMU/UH will be a part of that equation.

12 team ACC

ACC North - Boston College, Pitt, UConn, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Louisville
ACC South - Wake Forest, Duke, Memphis, Miami, SMU, Houston

14 team ACC

ACC North - Boston College, Pitt, UConn, Syracuse, Cincinatti, Temple, Louisville
ACC South - Wake Forest, Duke, Memphis, UCF, USF, SMU, Houston

[EastStang]

This is of course a network suits issue. The Big XII is a Fox/ESPN property. The ACC is an ESPN/Raycom property. The SEC is a CBS property. The Big Ten is a Big Ten Network/CBS property. The PAC12 is an ESPN property. The ACC teams only can go to the Big XII. Since ESPN bankrolls the Longhorn Network (which has underperformed), it can tell the Big XII what it can and cannot do. The problem is what to do about the Big Ten lurking out there ready to swoop in on the ACC. I suspect that ESPN wants to broker a deal to save the ACC from further damage, but will UVa, GT, UNC take that over the deal offered by the Big Ten. Really hard to tell. If those teams leave the ACC is toast because Clemson and FSU will not stay. I suspect that the U will be hiking up its skirts if that happens. The idea of the ACC/Big XII merger has been floated which would create a 22 team conference (23 for all sports). Is that too large or would they move to 24 just to make it so they split into four divisions? But one thing's for sure, we're just at the mercy of these titans.

[Stallion]

just from a different perspective I think the odds are clearly in favor of either or both of UCF and USF taking SMU's place in a 12 team scenario-especially if Miami goes to Big 12. Florida is ACC recruiting grounds-they have to access Florida. And I don't think its even close as long as Miami doesn't blackball UCF and USF. Miami is one school-not even sure they could blackball UCF and USF even if they wanted to. None of those ACC schools have any significant recruiting strength in Texas

[StallionsModelT]

The TV suits will tell them what to do. No one else.