(04-14-2019 07:33 PM)Wolfman Wrote: FWIW, I think Louisville probably had a similar offer from the B12 but chose to honor the terms of their contract with the oBE.
That’s definitely untrue. If you’ll recall, Joe Manchin and Mitch McConnell basically had a open knife fight over the issue. There’s no way McConnell would have gone to bat so openly for Louisville if they planned on honoring their contract with the dying Big East.
Also, who can blame them? At the time, there was no clear viable route into a Power 5 conference. Nobody knew Maryland and Rutgers were going to defect to the Big Ten. Louisville and West Virginia were playing for keeps because the fear of the time was that whoever was the bridesmaid there within the loop relegated to second division status as has happened with Cincinnati, Connecticut, USF, etc.
As for the original question, I think if the timing had worked out a little differently, West Virginia would’ve been chosen ahead of Louisville for the ACC for the same reasons that West Virginia was chosen ahead of Louisville for the Big 12.
Remember, the ACC was desperate for on field quality and they needed all the football credibility they could get. If Florida State and Clemson were driving that bus, and I believe they were, then they would’ve chosen the Mountaineers, whose recent and long-term history are each definitely superior to Louisville‘s.
Also, by bringing in West Virginia, the ACC would have immediately had a legitimately major rivalry in the Backyard Brawl.
Don’t get me wrong, their fans can be absolutely ridiculous and I certainly don’t shed any tears for their plight. However, I do believe in calling a spade a spade and that’s how I think it very likely would’ve gone down.