11/05/24
May 14, 2012
The next round of college football realignments may be under way: thanks to a rumor that bounced around about Florida State looking waaay westward to the Big 12. Just before the annual ACC meetings kicked off this weekend, the chairman of FSU's Board of Trustees came out in favor of exploring the possibility of jumping. Coach Jimbo Fisher came out in support of at least the possibility, forcing FSU President Eric Barron (a former Dean at the University of Texas, the biggest force in the Big 12) to deliver a smackdown memo detailing that there are no negotiations whatsoever and why the rumors need to stop. Which is, of course, going to have that exact effect, right?
Would have made more sense for FSU to join the SEC rather than Missouri. But I'm sure that was discussed at the time the SEC was considering expansion, and maybe Florida put the kibosh on that.
posted by holden at 10:52 PM on May 14, 2012
I've heard that Florida doesn't want Florida State in the SEC. That's a shame, but it would be pretty wild to get Big 12 schools rolling into Tallahassee on a regular basis.
posted by rcade at 11:34 PM on May 14, 2012
Leave, and take Miami with you.
posted by NoMich at 08:03 AM on May 15, 2012
As an A&M fan, this makes no sense to me. FSU will be joining a conference where the revenue is not shared equally, where UT pushes all the dwarf schools around, and where a conference network is an impossibility due to the fact that UT has an exclusive deal with ESPN. There's just no cultural fit, either. I guess this is just about money? Otherwise, I don't see the advantages.
posted by pholcomb at 11:53 AM on May 15, 2012
Maybe the schools not named U of TX want another big draw school to balance against UTx?
posted by billsaysthis at 11:54 AM on May 15, 2012
Also, FSU has (or had at one point) a pretty sweet deal with the ACC where they play two home games for every road game.
And sure, the ACC isn't a football power conference, but there are schools with decent reps in there, they just trend up and down from season to season a little more than some places. Clemson, Georgia Tech, sometimes UVa and UNC. Getting Pitt in will improve things a bit.
posted by LionIndex at 12:29 PM on May 15, 2012
Good riddance, as far as I'm concerned, but I don't think they are going to make the leap. If they think that the North Carolina schools have too much power in the ACC, it's nothing compared to the sway that Texas holds over the Big XII.
edit - I don't think that's true about the 2 home games per 1 road game.
posted by mbd1 at 12:54 PM on May 15, 2012
Also, FSU has (or had at one point) a pretty sweet deal with the ACC where they play two home games for every road game.
This is utterly untrue. It may look like it if you're counting non-conference games, but that's the case for many, many big-league schools.
posted by Etrigan at 02:54 PM on May 15, 2012
UNT has trouble getting home-and-home deals with BCS schools.
posted by rcade at 03:30 PM on May 15, 2012
Well, I guess I stand corrected on that one, but that's what I was told when I went to UVa in the mid-90s, just a couple years after FSU joined the conference. ESPN only has schedules going back to 2002 (which show an alternating home-and-home schedule in conference), but I'm pretty sure FSU only played at UVa once in my four years there.
But yeah, if that deal ever existed, it certainly hasn't been the case in over 10 years.
posted by LionIndex at 04:23 PM on May 15, 2012
I guess I am wondering why the ACC has such a crappy television deal. I don't think this realignment will happen. First, the Big 12 has absolutely no cachet in Florida. Moving to the SEC would be the more natural fit, but the advantages of the ACC and the reality of actually getting to a BCS game makes that unlikely. The whole selling point of the ACC was the academics and the basketball. FSU was supposed to not want to compete with SEC schools and their race to the bottom academically. I don't see how anything has changed in that regard in the last 20 or so years.
mbd1, why good riddance?
I'm pretty sure FSU only played at UVa once in my four years there
FSU played at VA in 1992 and 1995 before starting the regular home and home.
posted by bperk at 05:59 PM on May 15, 2012
FSU played at VA in 1992 and 1995 before starting the regular home and home.
Yep. I was only there for '95 and was out before they (presumably) came back in 97.
At this point, FSU has a much easier road to a conference title and a BCS bid than they would in the Big 12, so I don't really see the reasoning for moving either. For football, the ACC has a couple schools that usually stink (Duke, Wake), a whole bunch of up-and-down teams, and then just FSU and Va. Tech that have been consistently good for a long time.
posted by LionIndex at 06:08 PM on May 15, 2012
Florida State would jump to the SEC in a heartbeat if a spot was offered.
The BCS rules are being revised and the AQ system is likely to go away. But I don't see the ACC being squeezed out of a playoff system, though it's weaker than the SEC and Big 12.
posted by rcade at 07:37 PM on May 15, 2012
Why do you think FSU would jump at an SEC spot? They were offered one, but chose to join the ACC instead.
posted by bperk at 09:09 PM on May 15, 2012
The SEC has much better TV money and is a much more prestigious football conference. I don't know what it was like when Florida State joined the ACC in 1991, but TV deals these days make it a new ballgame.
posted by rcade at 12:41 AM on May 16, 2012
If its true that U of Florida is afraid of FSU joining the SEC that seems crazy not to ad a powerfull school if you can. thats why I think the Big 10 is better off with NE than Mizzou & were courting N.D. forever.
posted by bo_fan at 09:52 AM on May 16, 2012
Here's an interesting article from 2001 looking back (a "10 years later" retrospective piece) at the decision of FSU to join the ACC in 1991. As rcade suggests, the economics of college sports media deals have changed since 1991 (and even since 2001) such that the SEC is much more of a financially attractive proposition vis-a-vis the ACC today. Interesting tidbit from the article is that when FSU was being voted on by the ACC members, that Duke and Maryland were unequivocal no votes, and the three Carolina schools other than Duke (UNC, NC State and Wake) abstained on the initial vote, which would have kept FSU out (they eventually came around). Wonder if there are any hard feelings about that 10 years out.
posted by holden at 12:40 PM on May 16, 2012
It makes some sense to me. I think Florida State views itself as primarily a football school, and the ACC is definitely more of a basketball conference. It's not like geography seems to matter much anymore.