Coming Soon: The Supersized SEC
The Big Ten either extended invitations to
Missouri
,
Nebraska
,
Notre Dame
, and
Rutgers
recently or it didn’t. If they did,
. If they didn’t, expect them to soon. When it does happen, the SEC most likely won’t be far behind.
I have a hard time believing the immediate jump will be to conferences with 16 teams. I’m thinking 14 is the first step, with 16 to come a few years down the road. But 16 seems to be the flavor of the moment and two scenarios are being bounced around for the SEC.
One is a full-on raid of the Big 12 and the other would virtually kill the ACC. If the SEC looked west, predictions say it could be Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas A&M that join their ranks. If they stay closer to home, they could go after Clemson, FSU, Georgia Tech, and Miami.
It’s hard to tell which they favor. Either way, the supersized SEC would be the nation’s premier conference. Although that’s not much of a change from what the 12-team version of the conference is today. Just bigger and better.
Consider this: if the SEC were to pull off a purge of the Big 12, seven of the last 10 national title game participants will be in the new conference. That’s quite a lineup. And it creates schedules that mean any 1-loss SEC team might actually be considered for the championship game over an undefeated team from another conference. Florida could realistically play a schedule in which they face Georgia and Tennessee in the East, LSU, Oklahoma, and Texas in the West, FSU out-of-conference, and Alabama in the SEC title game. I’m both excited and scared at the same time. Any SEC team that goes undefeated has to be immediately included in the discussion of best of all-time.
For some reason, going after the ACC seems the more likely scenario to me. Maybe it’s because if the Big Ten actually pulls off an expansion where they get even one team from the Big 12, I have to think that conference digs its feet into the ground and makes efforts to strengthen its base to prevent it from happening again. That’s not to say the Sooners and Longhorns won’t listen to SEC overtures, but if they have more of a reason to stay where they are, they will. The Big 12 is aware of all of the discussion too. They have to be planning for their future as well.
So assuming the SEC leans that way, who do they target first? Clemson and Georgia Tech? Or former powers FSU and Miami (who always have the potential to return to being consistent top-ranked teams)? Or is option C the best bet? Invite them all and see where the chips fall?
If we’re talking 14 teams, I think the Tigers and Yellow Jackets are the best bet. There is virtually no reason for either of those schools to turn down an invitation to join the SEC. They both benefit greatly from the move and join their in-state rivals. An acceptance of the invitation is a sure thing. But there’s still the aura the Seminoles and Hurricanes possess. Neither team has had the type of success that was expected when the ACC expanded, but they are still FSU and Miami. Losing them would cripple the ACC and that might be a goal of the SEC. The ACC competes with the SEC for viewers in the same geographical area. The best way to get rid of the competition is to take its most important pieces.
It’s hard to predict who the SEC ends up with, but put money on an expansion of some kind. Talk of this magnitude doesn’t just fizzle out. Whatever happens, you’re going to have some new conference rivals within only a few short years.