(02-21-2018 06:48 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  1991 was the first big watershed realignment year. The SEC added South Carolina and Arkansas, the ACC added Florida St, the Big Ten added Penn St around that time, and the Big East started football adding full member Miami and a gaggle of affiliates.

But what if the 8 member ACC had seen the potential of 12 team league and gone to 12 then rather than waiting to 2004-2005 to do so?

Let's say they grab Florida St and Miami. To fill the other two spots they have what I'd consider 3 good options: South Carolina, VT, and WVU. keeping the SEC out of the Carolinas would be prudent if the Gamecocks could be convinced the ACC was the better option.

What does that mean elsewhere? If South Carolina returns to their ACC roots the SEC needs a different 12th and probably grabs another from the SWC, further hastening the demise of the SWC and likely getting someone like BYU, TCU, or Houston in the Big 12.

Big East members BC, Pitt, and Syracuse have to look elsewhere to build their football league. Rutgers and Temple are still there and maybe WVU out of the A-10. I think they have to resort to Metro schools to fill out the rest, that is if the Metro doesn't try to do their own football league. If the Metro group has VT, Cincy, Louisville, Memphis, Tulane, and USM they might be able to force the northeastern schools to join their league rather than the other way around.

South Carolina would not have picked the ACC over the SEC and the ACC wasn't interested at that point anyway.