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I hate to break this to you pastabelly, but if FSU, Clemson, and GT leave the ACC, that will be followed closely by VT to the SEC and the ACC going away altogether, at least as a football conference.

When all of this realignment is said and done, there will be four power conferences: Pac-12, BIG10, BIG12, and SEC. Expect the SEC to get VT and either UNC or NC State. If UNC does not go into the SEC, they’ll go into the BIG10. Look for the BIG10 to get UVA and possibly Maryland.

If FSU really does follow through with their plans to leave the ACC, it’s going to be a bloodbath.

If the BIG12 nabs FSU, Clemson, and/or GT, that is tantamount to war being declared against the SEC. Of course BIG12 supporters would counter with the argument that taking TAMU and Mizzou was the declaration of war. And they would probably have a point. Oh, and by the way, the BIG12 is getting at least two of those three universities. Listen to this for details:

http://www.blatanthomerism.com/2012-articles/may/podcast-the-dude-speaks-on-the-big-12-florida-st-and-conference-realignment.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

The reason this is such a big deal to the SEC is that Texas, Oklahoma, and OSU would all gain recruiting inroads in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. That is the heart of SEC country, and the most fertile area for high school football talent in the nation.

But according to the current SEC model for expansion, they have to go into a new area to increase their “footprint” for television revenue purposes. Realistically, that limits them to Virginia and North Carolina. Now because the BIG12 is sitting at 10 universities, they can accommodate six more new members. Doing the math:

1 – FSU
2 – Clemson
3 – GT
4, 5, 6 – ???

Three open slots COULD in theory be filled by a Virginia school, a North Carolina school, and last but not least, Notre Dame. It would provide the BIG12 with a television footprint along the Atlantic coast from Florida all the way to Virginia. This is a huge move for the BIG12.

Now I’m sure the SEC isn’t scared per se, but anyone can see that if these moves happen, the BIG12 on paper is every bit as powerful as the SEC, with a larger television footprint if I’m not mistaken. The SEC is going to have to make a seriously strong move to counter this amazing turn of events from the BIG12.

I tip my hat to the BIG12, a dead conference has been resurrected.

Bottom line is whether Big 12 is willing to jump up to at least 14 teams (to leave a slot in hopes of landing ND) by adding teams such as Georgia Tech, Clemson, FSU and Miami.

The TV rights assignment of the Big 12 members financially precludes teams from bolting from that conference. Having a conference championship game is a high risk, high reward decision for any conference in terms of a national championship game or 4 team playoff but a financial windfall. No conference championship game means you must have a high strength of schedule and no more than one loss (narrow loss to high ranked team) to make playoff. A conference championship game gives a team with one loss an opportunity to pick up a quality win, since a division champion typically is going to be a good team. Virtually forgotten in all the hate of the Alabama-LSU rematch is that OSU would have edged out Alabama for the second slot in the national championship game IF THE BIG 12 HAD EXPANDED SO THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.

By and by, the Big 12 is going to overcome Texas and realize that the best long term solution is to join the SEC, Big 10, PAC 12 and lesser conferences in having a conference championship game. Once they realize that, expansion will follow and dominoes will fall.