Florida Football: As other conferences collapse, Gators in spot of strength

On the field, this upcoming season might be a struggle for Florida football. Even if the team is improved, the brutal schedule makes anything more than eight wins a task that would be difficult for any team not ranked in the top ten.

But off the field, the future is bright, and the Florida Gators are able to sit back and choose their path going forward while others engage in a mad scramble for conference safety.

Florida Football: Watch the world burn

Yesterday Colorado officially announced they would be returning to the Big 12 after originally leaving the conference in 2011. They join UCLA and USC (the one with academic standards) as teams departing the Pac-12 after this season. 

The lack of a media deal after this season is also fueling speculation that the Pac-12 as a whole is on the verge of collapse and the remaining nine schools are going to look for greener pastures.

If you are wondering how any of what is going on out west impacts the Gators, it doesn’t directly.

Yet.

But the domino effect of teams seeking refuge in the Big 12 and Big 10 will impact the choices the SEC makes moving forward.

With Texas and Oklahoma joining the conference next season, the SEC will have 16 teams, which is already a lot and inhibits the ability to actually play everyone in the conference.

As the Big 12 fills back up and picks itself up from the dead, members of the ACC are getting restless.

In one breath, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said the conference is also looking to expand.

In a different breath, word leaked from FSU’s 247 site that the Seminoles are still actively looking to leave the conference. We know that FSU, along with six other schools, have been looking at the opportunity to bolt the conference.

We are on record here at Hail Florida Hail in stating that it would do Florida football zero-good to lend FSU a helping hand and bring them into the ACC. Their ship is sinking, and putting them on equal footing with Gators would only serve to allow them to regroup.

Plus, unless we are just going to scrap the idea of conferences altogether, expanding the SEC to 20 teams defeats the purpose of having a conference.

Notice how UCF didn’t lend a helping hand to USF and ask yourself which school is in a position of better strength moving forward.

But whatever choices the SEC does make going forward, there is one thing that is clear, and it’s that the conference is as strong as it has ever been, and having a seat at the table is not something Florida football fans are going to have to stress over moving forward.