With a changing situation and the move of Colorado back to the Big 12, the ACC should look at the benefits of expansion. For a league that considers itself the third-best behind the SEC and the Big Ten, the ACC’s decisions have to reflect the stability and evolving strength of the Big 12. It’s highly likely, too, that the Big 12 will continue adding teams after hitting 13 with Colorado next fall.
The University of Colorado’s Board of Regents unanimously approved a move to return to the Big 12 Conference beginning with the 2024 football season. With this move, the Buffaloes will become the Big 12’s 13th member after OU and Texas officially depart to the SEC following the 2023-24 school year.
In light of Colorado’s planned move back to the Big 12, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips told ESPN that his league would continue weighing possibilities for expansion.
It’s time for the ACC to act now and expand in order to keep up with the Big 12 Conference with its newest expansion target, Colorado.
The ACC currently has its members locked in with a media rights deal and has a partnership with Notre Dame football, the nation’s preeminent independent program.
Without the growth of the league in light of the Big 12 confirming its move to 13 teams, the ACC would look stagnant and ripe for the picking. It’s commonly assumed that the league’s most largest and most prestigious programs, such as Florida State, Clemson, and Miami (Fla.) would look to the SEC if given the opportunity.
The ACC currently has 14 football members (excluding Notre Dame) and would be wise to consider expansion in order to improve. The league stretches from southern Florida through the Carolinas to the Northeast, picking up old Big East schools like Syracuse and Boston College. The league even added teams in the Midwest such as Louisville.
Given the most recent conference realignment movements, here are six of the ACC’s best expansion options:
6. Connecticut
Has UConn turned its program around after last year’s 6-7 season under head coach Jim Mora? The ACC has already gone after the remnants of the Big East with programs like Louisville, Boston College, Pitt, and Syracuse, and it would add a big-time basketball member if they invited the Huskies. The men’s program has won a staggering five national titles since 1999, including last spring’s crown to cap March Madness.
While the Northeast U.S. isn’t exactly a college football hotbed, it’s a huge TV market and it would solidify its presence in the New York City area — and the league is interested in that, considering that it has hosted several conference basketball tournaments at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in recent years.
By combining the best of the Big East with its own storied basketball tradition, adding UConn would give the ACC a better way to take the mantle of the best men’s basketball conference in the country.
While the football results have been pretty bare, there’s legitimate hope that the Huskies can turn that around and bounce back from being one of the worst FBS programs. The team won at least eight games in each season of a four-year stretch from 2007 to 2010, which culminated with a Fiesta Bowl appearance. Getting those kinds of results now might make UConn a worthy addition — if the Big 12 doesn’t court the Huskies first.
5. University of Texas-San Antonio
This expansion idea is a little more out-of-the-box for the ACC. But, making inroads into Texas would be a huge addition for the league, and there’s no doubt that the Roadrunners would jump at the chance to join a power conference.
UTSA is a new program, having played its first season ever in 2011 as an FCS independent under then-head coach Larry Coker. The Roadrunners have compiled their best two seasons in program history in the past two years, going a combined 23-5 and finishing in the 2022 AP Top 25.
An ascendant program, UTSA is moving on from the Conference USA to the American this fall. San Antonio is a great destination city, the recruiting pipelines are there for the ACC to take advantage of, and the media market is large. It’s a different demographic for the ACC, but in the name of expanding your geographic footprint for better media rights deals, it’s a move that could pay off down the road.
The Roadrunners would be the ACC’s best way to move to the Lone Star State. Given that the Big 12 just added Houston and that SMU lacks upside, UTSA would be a future-looking addition for the league.
4. Tulane
The Green Wave had its best gridiron performance in 25 years last season, winning the American Athletic Conference title after beating the three teams that were about to leave for the Big 12: Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston. Head coach Willie Fritz has engineered a remarkable turnaround in the Big Easy and rejected overtures from the ACC’s Georgia Tech in order to stay with Tulane.
The school offers clear benefits as a premier entertainment destination and as a fertile recruiting ground in southern Louisiana — which might be among the nation’s best along with the metro areas of Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston.
Another less obvious advantage to adding Tulane is that it would provide the ACC with a logical geographical bridge into Texas. With the ACC closer to the Lone Star State, new and intriguing possibilities would open up and make more sense.
Tulane’s staying power as a strong, viable program after the success of 2022 will be put to the test early this fall. The Green Wave have games against South Alabama (which won 10 games last year) and Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss begin this season.
3. South Florida
The Bulls haven’t done much on the football field recently, finishing at the bottom of the American standings for the past three consecutive years. In two of those years — 2022 and 2020 — South Florida was winless in conference play.
South Florida did put together back-to-back 11-2 and 10-2 campaigns under Willie Taggart and Charlie Strong in 2016 and 2017, respectively. There’s potential in this program that’s only been at the FBS level since 2000 when it joined as an independent before bouncing from the Conference USA to the Big East before ending up in its current home, the AAC.
South Florida would be a bit of a chess move for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Adding the Bulls guarantees that another conference couldn’t establish or expand its footprint in the Sunshine State. Look no further than the Big 12, which just added Central Florida and could consider the Tampa-based Bulls as a geographic partner along I-4 for the Knights.
Florida is one of the most productive and heavily recruited states in the country, and adding South Florida would give the ACC another squad in the state to join the Seminoles and the Hurricanes.
1. Oregon and 2. Washington (pair)
With the impending move of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, it’s clear that physical geography doesn’t have to play a big role in the latest round of conference musical chairs. The Trojans and the Bruins will be loading up their planes to travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, and State College, Pennsylvania because their leaders feel that the Pac-12 is a sinking ship. Colorado further reinforced this notion by leaving for the Big 12.
The Ducks and the Huskies have large fan bases and have had successful programs. These two football teams have outperformed USC in recent years, despite the Trojans’ rich history, its Los Angeles location, and extensive resources.
If the ACC wants two nationally prominent programs that aren’t attached to one of the other power conferences, it’s Oregon and Washington. If BYU, Central Florida, Baylor, and West Virginia can all share a conference, why not Oregon and the ACC?
Oregon is arguably one of college football’s Top 10 or 15 programs. The Ducks won in the double-digits for seven straight years from 2008 to 2014, which included a BCS title game appearance in 2010. Oregon has also win six Pac-12 titles in the past 13 seasons.
Washington is capable of being elite and is fresh off an 11-2 season. The Huskies made the 2016 College Football Playoff and lost to Alabama in the semifinals, marking the only time a Pac-12 team has reached the CFP.