ACC sitting out latest round of conference expansion.

The latest expansion news is that TCU is set to join the Big 12. I think it’s a nice move for the Big 12. No matter what the Big 12 did, Texas A&M was too far gone to ever come back. TCU is a good football program whose inclusion in the Big 12 is a perfect geographic and cultural fit.

This was a devastating blow to the Big East. That would be the third school, along with Pittsburgh and Syracuse to leave the conference in the last few weeks. I’m not really sure how the Big East can survive this latest gut punch. This is a conference that literally is on life support, and unlike the Big 12 doesn’t have a core group of football heavyweights like Oklahoma and Texas to fall back on.

The Big 12 may still lose Missouri. The Tigers appear to be contemplating a move the SEC. Even if that happens the Big 12 is looking to expand. Possible candidates are BYU, Cincinnati, Louisville, and West Virginia. West Virginia may also be in line to the SEC’s 14th team. At the moment how does this affect the ACC? Not one bit, and that’s not a bad thing.

Sure there are still some whispers that any number of ACC schools could be poached by the SEC or Big 10, but those are only the faintest of whispers. It is nothing like the rampant rumors that ran wild previous to the ACC adding Pittsburgh and Syracuse. The ACC has moved from being just a notch above the chaos of the Big 12 and Big East, to getting to watch from the sidelines like the Pac 12, and Big 10.

In fact the ACC is now seen as a very desirable location. UCONN hasn’t hidden the fact it would jump at the chance to join the ACC. Expansion’s biggest free agent is Notre Dame, and there has been more than one article written that the most logical conference for the Irish to go to is the ACC. Notre Dame may need to align itself with a conference eventually, and the ACC might be it.  

The Big East is crumbling before our eyes.  The Big 12 has moved aggressively remain viable, but still lost 3 teams and maybe 4 in the process. Even the mighty SEC’s 14th member is not settled. Who knows where we’ll be in month, but for now the ACC can sit this round out and just watch the fallout.