Ultimately, schools are going to look out for their own best interests and not those of their current conference. The only thing a conference can really do is make it expensive and painful for a school to leave. The ACC should take any exiting school to the mat for its exit fee, but even that may not be enough to deter schools leaving for greener pastures.

Notre Dame will join the ACC for football only when (if) it makes sense for them to do so financially. As long as they have a contract with NBC, I wouldn't expect them to have any reason to join the ACC for football any time soon.

FYI of the many Texas pay sites I have access to...

247 Hook'em is saying UT/B12 are "partnering" with the ACC of a new Bowl game for the Big 12's #3 (since Cotton Bowl will be in BCS) ACC's #2 (since Peach/Chickfila will be in BCS and playing the new Big East in the Russell Athletics Bowl isn't going to be a good match up) and a long term scheduling agreement for some of the lesser teams (i.e. not UT/OU/FSU) and have the ACC voting with them on allowing a CCG for conferences w/ less than 10 teams.

Inside Texas says nothing is going on at all...

and

Good Ole Rivals/Orange Bloods and "My Guy" Chip Brown (per FSA) are saying that Miami and Clemson are done deals...and FSU/NCSU/VPI and any remaining AAU schools are up next after B1G/SEC raids if still available (so everyone but Lville, Syracuse, BC, and Wake) and they still have dreams of adding ND...

So assuming UNC/UVA to B1G, and VPI/NCSU to SEC

Southeast- Miami, FSU, GT, Clemson
East - Duke, WVU, Pitt, ISU
Southwest- Texas, Tech, TCU, Baylor
North - OU, OSU, KSU, ISU

Quite a range of rumors here...take them with grain of salt and what not.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

FWIW, here's UMD's suit against the ACC. Much more thorough than the ACC's, imo. The ACC doesn't even really go into its constitution to state its case.

The bit about the ACC not properly following protocol on the increase in a withdrawal fee is going to complicate the ACC's case some. There probably are procedures in place that can excuse that breach in notification, but it will force the ACC to enunciate why it felt it needed to breach, and naturally, it's going to be punitive, which is what UMD has been saying.

However, even if given the year to enact the increase, if UMD isn't going to become a member of the B1G until 2014, they'd have to withdraw from the ACC before the amendment went into effect and become an independent or find membership into a conference for one year. It sounds like they have to leave the ACC this summer.

As for the Clemson Pt.2 story, when that many administrative levels talk about being firmly rooted in the ACC as they did in the summer, they set themselves up for steep penalties. That they helped enable this increase hurts them even more. And it's not like the Big XII is a step up like the B1G...in fact, with ND now in the ACC for its other sports, it's going to make these schools quite well off. Even better if they get the network going. They're certainly in the right part of the country for that.

Posted elsewhere:
http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1463673&PT=4&PR=2big

UVA and GT move not imminent in Chip's opinion

If Deloss Dodd & Mack Brown believe that a conference title game hurts their chances for a national championship title game, then it is a short-cut tactic. Should a school that cannot survive it's own conference title game be playing in a national championship game anyway?

Had Notre Dame faced-off with an extra quality opponent in a league before this year's BCS title game, perhaps a better matched line-up, competition-wise, would have been delivered.

It's totally fine if the B12 wants to stay at 10. But please, use another argument.

Should Notre Dame join the ACC successfully in 2014 or 2015, the Irish MUST join also on football as well to break their all-time affiliation as a football Independent. But playing only 5 games against ACC teams as an Independent while being an all-sports non-football member doesn't seem fit in my opinion.

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

If the Big 12 decides only to expand with two teams it would probably be difficult to get schools in the ACC to jump, however, being bold and taking a block of 6 schools would have to make some ACC school take notice of consideration.

Why not go big time and change the name of the Big 12 to Big 16 to go along with the new plans of changing the logo as well. All in one big play.

Forget about the SEC and Big Ten plans of taking UVa/UNC and NCST/Va Tech, the Big 12 should go on offence and offer the best combination of 6 schools available in the ACC.

I would take Pitt, Va Tech, NC State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State.

This would create a geographical connection from Pennsylvania to Florida for the eastern schools.

The conference could then split into two eight team divisions until the four POD system could be approved by the NCAA to allow semi final and conference championship games.

East: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, NC State or Louisville, Va Tech, WVU, Pitt, Iowa State

West: Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma

If NC State could not move due to state politics, then Louisville would be a great replacement and provide a better geogrphacial bridge to Iowa State.

Each of these 6 new members would have to sigh GOR for the next 13 years which would provide security and prevent any of these schools from jumping into the SEC and/or Big Ten.

With the exception of Iowa State, most schools in the east would play each other for seven games and keep most of those rivalries in place which at the same time keeping most of the western schools rivalries in place.

Bowlsby donned the tinfoil hat and talked about deregulation as a reason to let the B12 do what it wants. So, it appears their commish is just a puppet for these guys, too.

Their argument is made because they can't get who they'd want for 11+. The ACC, even with fare like Wake and BC, have plenty of desirable programs. I'd like to think people realize these rumors about the ACC apocalypse are written by those who were passed up. I think this is a lot of anger and jealousy by West Virginians and those who felt that Notre Dame should have been a Big XII school. The UMD thing is irrelevant, and FSU has been in the works for years.

ESPN blog article with update on Maryland/ACC lawsuit at http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/5 ... s-maryland

It appears Maryland has taken a page out of its close by neighbor WVU law suit with the Big East and will most likely resemble the same results.

There will be some form of settlement. I predict it will be no way in the 50 million dollar range and more likely closer to 20 million which Maryland had originally agreed to.

If Maryland owes the ACC any more than 20 million, the school has been very much undervalued by the league for the many years of service as a charter member.

Based on 17 million dollars per year Maryland share of ACC revenue, how can the ACC possibly argue there is 50 million dollars due the conference with the exit of Maryland. Unless ESPN reduces the ACC contract with the replacement of Louisville with Maryland which is not likely, I do not see a strong case by the ACC.

And just think if history repeat itself with the implosion of the Big East once WVU won or ok settled with the Big East, the ACC may be next up on the chopping block.

A pro-ACC blogger perspective - from Mr. Tarheel - Feb. 17, 2013: Taking A Stand Against Conference Expansion--In Defense of John Swofford (scroll down to the specific entry).

http://atlanticcoastconfidential.com/

This was a discussion in the B1G thread per GT dissatisfied with their 2013 fb schedule. According to espn blog, the rankings of OOC schedules for 2013 for the ACC are as follows:
(1) Clemson, (2) UVA, (3) 'Cuse (4) Pitt, (5) VPI (6) FSU (7) GT, (8) UNC, (9) Miami, (10) BC, (11) MD., (12) WFU, (13) NCSU, (14) Duke

GT plays 2 FCS schools: Elon & Alabama A&M; plus UGA at home; BYU on the road.
All NC schools have weaker OOC's, with three being the weakest.
GT complaints would need to relate to dates the ACC office schedules and/or sequence of scheduled in-conference opponents. The specific complaint about back to back road trips to the same opponent, has to be about divisional balance and equaling the home-away format.
There could be a break given to a school such as UNC with a favorable open date, if two are more are seeking it, but more details would need to be released to have a comprehensive assessment of the conflict.

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/category/_/name/sec

FSU is at it again...

AD Spetman stirs the pot:



Also, it looks like ND will get to the ACC very soon. Here's hoping the Big East sticks a nice, nasty bill for the football arrangement they so adeptly avoided.

Spetman does seem to speak more freely than most of his counterparts. His intention was to put that out there. It's way short of a solidarity statement with the ACC of which the conference needs.

FSU gets high ranking recruiting classes consistently. Getting to a top bowl and future playoffs, the gauntlet is generally easier in the ACC; really only a couple of strong programs to surpass each season, given FSU's talent. It sounds as if FSU is trying for the SEC and the school wants to convince the SEC that they would bring in enough revenue to enhance the pay-day for each SEC school.

As to the ND piece, the ACC is still honeymooning about ND coming in. Give it a few years, and more meetings where requests are made of ND to help out the ACC better in a host of financial and strategic situations, and ND will tell them "we can't do that" while ND makes their own new demands and declarations. The ACC will be PAINED over this arrangement, and may come sooner than later.

ND will be the same self serving pain in the ACC that they were in the Big East. ND thinks of ND only and will only push agendas that are self serving to themselves. They think they are better than anyone else and until now the major conferences have entitled them to push their own agendas and to entice them to join their own conferences.

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SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS - SEC
RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS - BIG EAST / AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE / BIG TEN