Re: Clemson & FSU to SEC 2025

I can certainly understand why some Clemson people are averse to joining the SEC, but I'd much rather join them than the BIG10 just from a matchup/relevance standpoint. I'm not a guy who likes to minimize the importance of academics, but in my opinion, academic reputation shouldn't matter for sports conferences. Academic reputation should be assessed on a school-by-school basis of instruction, research, and student performance, not based on who you play football against. It just makes no sense. But perception matters, and unfortunately it seems that's something that a lot of people factor in their perceptions, as nonsensical as it seems to me. So I do at least understand the sentiment. I also understand the resentment that comes from years of SEC fanbases constantly shoving supposed conference superiority in the face of Clemson. But I still standby my preference of the SEC for the same reason I already mentioned. The reason Clemson got into a poor position to begin with is by being in a conference that lacks intriguing football matchups. Just to make it clear, here's a side-by-side comparison of the teams in each conference ranked in rough order of their typical football success/brand recently. Obviously, this is just my opinion, so I'm sure others would have minor disagreements about the exact order, but I think overall this is a pretty fair ranking for our purposes:

SEC | BIG10
1. Alabama | Ohio State
2. Georgia | Michigan
3. Texas | Oregon
4. LSU | USC
5. Oklahoma | Penn State
6. Tennessee | Washington
7. Florida | UCLA
8. Texas A&M | Michigan State
9. Ole Miss | Wisconsin
10. Auburn | Iowa
11. Missouri| Maryland
12. Arkansas | Nebraska
13. Kentucky | Northwestern
14. South Carolina | Minnesota
15. Mississippi State | Purdue
16. Vanderbilt | Illinois
17. N/A | Indiana
18. N/A | Rutgers

Now tell me which of these 2 lists of matchups you'd be more excited to play. I don't think it's even much of a debate to be frank.

TigerNick76®

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Re: How bout a C&P for those of us who don't have a tawt to twitter with?***

Apr 12, 2024, 7:59 PM [ in reply to How bout a C&P for those of us who don't have a tawt to twitter with?*** ]

“My source pointed out it's critical that the ACC negotiate in good faith and accept the survival of the conference depends on the acceptance of this offer at the best terms they can negotiate... but the ACC doesn't have much leverage.

If the ACC doesn't settle with FSU & Clemson, then ESPN will not pick up the option on its TV contract. They will have no TV revenue beginning in 2027 and the conference will breach the terms of the GoR thus voiding it.

Expect a settlement in time to allow FSU and Clemson to begin SEC play in 2025/2026.

And yes, ESPN will pressure the SEC to take them both. Why? ESPN has accepted the inevitable departure of FSU & Clemson from the ACC. ESPN losses considerable money if FSU and Clemson end up in the Big Ten. ESPN will do everything it can to avoid that scenario.

But, here's a warning to the ACC and its fans. The ACC can't play hardball. If it becomes clear the ACC and FSU/Clemson can't reach an agreement, then ESPN will promptly decline the 2027 ACC option and engineer the move of the ACC's top football properties to the SEC & Big 12.

The Big 12 would benefit the most from the ACC's refusal to use common sense and avoid disaster. But it would necessarily be an economic boon the Big 12. Think pro rata additions... plus a contract extension that gives the Big 12 security until 2036.

The takeaway is this... The ACC can save itself by being pragmatic. But an agreement of this nature requires that all parties involved use common sense and see the writing on the wall clearly.

Unfortunately, it's not an automatic that the ACC realizes its predicament and accepts it has no choice but listen to ESPN. There's a fault line running through the ACC that divides its membership in half.

Some, like UNC, are going to be unhappy. The question is will the ACC's new contract - resulting from a settlement - pay schools like Louisville, Miami, NCST, and VT enough? Will the renegotiated contract pay enough to win a supermajority of votes needed to approve a settlement?

Here's my advice to the ACC... remember what happened to the Pac 12.”

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Clemson & FSU to SEC 2025