RE: What if: ACC thinks ahead of B1G, invites Penn State in late 80's as well as FSU
I’m going to toss out a scenario here:
We all know about Gene Corrigan’s straw poll of the ACC presidents on expansion and the names that came up where Florida St and Syracuse. Let’s say that still happens but the phone call with Syracuse goes a little different. The Syracuse president says it’s going to a tough sell to leave their northeastern roots but if they got a football relationship going, with some time, the alums and donors would come around to the idea of full membership. They negotiate a plan for Syracuse, Pitt, and BC to come in as football only members in 1991 along with full member Florida St. As part of the deal the ACC and Big East also start an epic basketball challenge series.
(Penn St still goes to the Big Ten, SC and Arkansas to the SEC)
In 1994 we still see the Big 12 get organized with a 1996 start date. We still get a WAC-16. Things are a little different with C-USA. VT and WVU are in there too with a line up of: WVU, VT, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, USM, Tulane, and Houston in football and non-fb DePaul, Marquette, St Louis, Charlotte, UAB, and USF. Army and ECU come in later as fb only. UAB and USF eventually bring FBS programs online. 2001 sees TCU and ECU Enter the C-USA fold as full members.
2004 becomes a pivotal year. There’s mutual interest between Miami and the ACC as scheduling as an Indy has become harder. Expansion’s a no go without VT as UVA’s vote is critical and the state politicians are involved. Realizing they could be cast off and replaced by new full members, the 3 fb affiliates from the BE make it know they would be willing to become full members. All 5 get voted in as full members to make a 14 team ACC. Thoughts about ND coming in are discussed and they decide if the Irish are ever interested they can look at 16.
The Big East adds ND, Marquette, DePaul, and St Louis for 10 members to reload.
As the dust settles:
Big Ten, Pac 10, SEC, Big 12: same as our Timeline
ACC Coastal: BC, Cuse, Pitt, Maryland, VT, GT, Miami
ACC Atlantic: UVA, UNC, Duke, WF, NC St, Clemson, FSU
C-USA East: WVU, Cincinnati, Louisville, ECU, USF, UCF
C-USA West: Memphis, UAB, USM, Tulane, Houston, TCU
MAC East: Buffalo, Akron, Kent St, Ohio, Marshall, Miami
MAC West: BG, Toledo, EMU, CMU, WMU, Ball St, NIU
MWC: UNM, AFA, Colo St, Wyoming, Utah, BYU, SDSU, UNLV
WAC East: LA Tech, Tulsa, SMU, Rice, UTEP
WAC West: Nevada, Boise St, Fresno St, San Jose St, Hawaii
Sunbelt: FIU, FAU, MTSU, Troy, Ark St, ULL, ULM, UNT, NMSU
non-fb: WKU, USA, UALR, Denver
fb only: Utah St, Idaho
Indy: Army, Navy, ND, Temple, Rutgers
2010 becomes another big year for the shuffling to pick up again. It could be small, with just Colorado, Utah, BYU, Nebraska, TAMU, Missouri, WVU, and TCU moving around among the big conferences but if the 14 team ACC was working well it might have emboldened the Big Ten, SEC, and PAC 10 to more aggressively Balkanize the Big 12.
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