ACC Football: Top 5 expansion candidates for the conference

If the ACC chooses to go down the route of subsuming the last vestiges of the old Big East, it might as well go all the way. Temple was booted from the Big East back in 2004, after a decade and a half of sitting at or near the bottom of the league standings. They have been trying to regain respect ever since.

The Owls were relegated to independence for two years before the MAC brought them into the fold. From 2007 to 2011, Temple slowly emerged under Al Golden and Steve Addazio into a MAC contender, and the Big East brought them right back into the league just in time for its final season.

The Owls didn’t find a new home right away, and they were left to help build up the American Athletic Conference. Temple won the conference crown as recently as 2016, and they have been in a bowl game each of the past three seasons. They also open the door to another major metropolitan area as yet uncovered by the ACC.

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Could Temple make the step up in competition? Their track record in the old Big East was hardly indicative of their current trajectory, and a hop up to the Power Five could help put Temple on more sound footing as it looks to take the next step.