Brett McMurphy has written a fantastic piece for The Action Network, compiling and organizing several notes on the status of the Florida State Seminoles, who along with the Clemson Tigers, seem to be the last major dominos waiting to fall on the college football expansion front. It’s always a ‘never say never’ business, but Florida State is on the outside looking in as both the Big Ten and the SEC have essentially said, “nah, we’re good for now.” That makes sense. The SEC got to 16 teams by adding Texas and Oklahoma, who begin conference play this season. The Big 12 might expand further, but McMurphy’s report suggests that it’s not an ideal landing spot for Florida State unless the ACC completely blows up.
So, that leaves me wondering just what the hell is going to happen here. Just when we think the dust is settling, it stirs back up. I kind of figured we’d stand pat for a little while as the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC duked it out for supremacy. It always felt like there was going to be one conference left out. My money was on the Big 12, and I was dead ass wrong. But, you’re telling me now that even though we lost the Pac-12 due to this expansion arms race, we might lose the ACC too? That’s implied heavily in the thinking here. At a time when everyone was scrambling around to find their forever homes, maybe Florida State waited just a little too late to really get into the game. There’s one little nugget in McMurphy’s piece that really hits hard:
“Look what they did: getting the attorney general involved, accusing [former ACC commissioner] John Swofford of rigging the television rights to help his son, filing a suit to expose ESPN’s TV deals — something the other three power leagues are against, by the way,” the source said. “They’re not a good partner. There’s no congeniality. No one wants that.
This is not the only source McMurphy cited that held similar sentiment. That is what surprises me the most. “Well, well, well…if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions…” Not only is the Big Ten saying ‘no’ for now, but so is the SEC. I don’t know why people thought the SEC would want Florida State (or Miami for that matter) to begin with. They have a big enough footprint in the state with the Florida Gators. The only reason I can think of for it to make sense with the SEC is if they literally take them on JUST to keep them from going to a competitor. I don’t even know about that, though. Now, the Big 12 is still rumbling with expansion talk, but McMurphy’s report suggests Florida State isn’t all that high on the prospects of joining the Big 12. It’s wild. There’s a lot of this that feels like being the last kid picked for kickball.
There’s another aspect of this that I find interesting and that’s the disconnect between what’s actually happening among university presidents and the fans on social media who feel like Florida State is a lock to join the Big Ten. It’s always fun to watch your casual know-it-alls sitting on barstools around the country put in their place when they realize they were dead wrong and had no real idea of what was going on. I admit that I’m a tad guilty of this, more in the sense that I’d assumed anyone would be jumping at the chance to add Florida State to their conference. But, I guess not all that glitters is gold. One thing’s for sure – with media days getting underway, it feels like the college football season will be here before we know it. And, this year, it’s going to be crazier than ever.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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