I have had a chance to step back and look at things and Clemson would be insane to move to another league before 2013.
The next 2 seasons, Clemson is going to be about a loaded of a team as they have had. Also look at the 2013 matchups:
8/31/2013: Georgia (HOME)
9/14/2013: Kent State (HOME): We may lose this one if the 9 game ACC schedule kicks in and we have to play Syracuse.
11/23/2013: Citadel (HOME):Dabo pulls a Spurrier and schedules a cupcake one week before the rivalry
11/30/2013: South Carolina (ROAD)
ACC MATCH UPS (No Dates yet)
at Maryland
Wake (Home)
at NC State
FSU (Home)
Boston College (Home)
at UVa
at GT
Duke (Home)
This is a very manageable schedule that will be “difficult” enough to allow us to make a National Tile Run if we can run the table. We have 2 SEC schools as bookends on our schedule. We Also have a very favorable ACC schedule that doesn’t have VT, Miami or UNC on the Coastal side to play.
If Clemson jumped ship next year, there will be a major adjustment curve moving into a new league and having to get familiar with new teams and stadiums.
We need to just hunker down and stay put for at least 2 more season at a minimum and allow calmer heads to prevail. With a little patience, we could be in the National Title hunt if we just stay the course.
I feel the same way about FSU. In the next 3 seasons after this one, if the additions of Pitt and Cuse don’t mess it up, FSU will see VT 2013, GT 2013+2014 and UNC 2014. FSU is about to enter the golden stretch of interesting games. If FSU waits that long, then they might as well wait for the 5 year look in. If the ACC does not get a bump in pay after the 5 year look in, then by all means let’s pack our bags and go.
My desire to leave the ACC and what is going to happen are 2 different things. I am not happy with a lot of things that have happened in the ACC in the past and what is going on right now. But I suggest taking a step back and just looking at things.
My position is still make damn certain there is ZERO chance of ever moving to the SEC. That is what would be the best natural fit for Clemson if not the ACC. Just about everyone in the sports media refers to Clemson as a SEC-Type team. FSU may not be in the same boat as Clemson. I think the SEC is also the best spot for FSU. Wouldn’t the FSU/Florida game be even bigger if it were a conference game that had League title, National title ramifications?
Right now the Big 12 is a little intoxicating because we fans are thinking about having Oklahoma, Texas, OSU, WVU playing games in our stadiums and it would be cool….But we have to be damn certain this is best.
As I said, I don’t want Clemson to do anything until after 2013 because we have a great chance to make a title run. Also, If we beat Auburn and USC this year and beat UGA and USC next year and get into the National Title discussion, I am looking at that as a job interview for the SEC. Clemson could have set up OOC games with schools from other leagues, but we have continued dancing with SEC schools to sell out crowds and have played good games. The SEC might want to take a look at us if we play good against them…...
It was suggested we look at things when the ACC has that 5 year “Look-in” and I think that is a good idea. If the SEC doesn’t pick Clemson and FSU in the next 5 years I doubt they ever will.
Sorry but your logic of a “managable schedule” does not sit well with me. I’m done with managable and just enough to get by. Boise St can go 12-0 and beat UGA and whoever else but miss out with an easy road. Its time to strap up and play a man’s game instead of playing not to lose. I want a schedule that 100% has no doubt about being a National championship schedule, not a oh it might get us in. UGA series is locked in, or else we pay big time. I’m sure thats part of the moving deal. We’d still have USCjr, and most likely still play FSU. Add in WVU and some other Big 12 teams (not even UT or Oklahoma….Baylor, KSU, OSU, etc) also and boom there ya go. I’m done with squeaking by and taking the easy roads, time to prove our talent’s worth. UGA, FSU, WVU, USCjr, with some OSU/KSU/Whoever vs UGA, USCjr, and FSU with Duke/Citadel/Kent St/BC…..seriously?
I don’t want there to be ANY question if we were to win the whole thing. And if we won it, sure we would have beaten a good team doing so….but look at our easy road coming here. We just cruised up the interstate.
How do we know the SEC will expand anymore? How do we know the Big 12 will want Clemson after 5 years when they can pickup other teams easy? Theres no sense in waiting to make a move, you might miss your chance. I understand your logic in waiting, but I think its flawed because you can EASILY miss the boat and send your program into irrelevancy for decades to come. You just cannot wait on these things, its not worth the chance. You take the money on the table now and secure your future now. What happens if you hold out for the SEC and they choose someone else? What then? What happens if the ACC doesn’t make it to the 5 year look in and the Big 12 and SEC have no interest in expanding? What then?
If we run the table next year, we will have beaten 2 pretty good SEC teams that will be top 15 if not top 10…........We will have beaten a fairly well ranked FSU team and probably VT in the ACCCG not to mention some decent other ACC teams like GT and NC State….
The 2013 schedule is plenty tough enough should we run the table with nobody questioning it….....Hell, this year we were 5th in the BCS when we where 8-0 and would have been dancing with LSU had we not pulled a Clemson…....
What I am saying is we know the teams we are playing, we know the stadiums, the fans bases and what to expect…....
Just think about what I am saying….take a deep breath and look at it without being starry-eyed at playing Texas and Oklahoma and you will see that I am making perfectly good sense.
I agree with CU in this case. I dont think that your arguments apply to clemson. BSU’s schedule was a joke. Clemson has one of the toughest OOC schedules in the country, and arguably the strongest ACC schedule as well. And it consistantly does every year.
Clemson has too large of a fan base, too large of a TV market, and is in the top 25 too often to get left outside looking in. BSU is a no-name school with a gimick field that picked up a great QB and picked apart the rest of its no-name compition. Without Moore BSU will fade away again, and the next flavor of the week will step up into its place, and 10 years from now when Moore is still playing in the pros and all the big conference QBs are retiring, it wont be because BSU was better than we thought, it will be because he didnt sustain the same injuries at a young age. (same reason MLB scouts look at outfielders for pitchers, they havnt been worked to death before they are 20)
I think CU_T4L is right. The fact is we don’t know that an undefeated Clemson would get shut out of a championship game like Boise St. or passed over for a 1-loss SEC/B12 team. No ACC team has run the table in a long time. And being undefeated is pretty much a prerequisite for consideration unless you’re Bama or LSU. Staying in the ACC is Clemson’s best shot.
Now, if it turns out the ACC has no chance at a being part of the playoff system then I’m all for conference change. My belief is that conference expansion and consolidation of the football powers is just a precursor to a break from the NCAA of the 64 (nice round number) best football schools to form their own association. There’s no way that Clemson would get left out. Here’s a link to an SI article from last year. This is one of those ideas, like the flat tax, that come around again and again but are too simple and rational and common sense to be seriously considered.
There is little doubt that Clem and I have been on the same page lately. Five more years of chicken little payments will finish both Clemson and FSU financially, they will lose coaches and becomes second rate programs. Schools, conferences and fan bases who cannot figure out something this simple need to do it on their own without Clemson and FSU.
It is not all about easier roads to a title, it is about survival in the modern world of college football. Schools that want to be in a small basketball conference, well that is great but some schools want to compete in the world of big time college football, you cannot do that in the ACC. It insists on a small minded leader with no vision and nobody seems to have the vision to change that. I say luck to them but I want to see it all in my rear view mirror.
FSU wanted some say in taking on Pitt and Syracuse but were given none. That was the final straw and they were furious and now they are moving on. WVU and Lousiville might could have saved this chicken league, but in the final analysis I am glad it worked out the way it did.
Oh no, winning is what matters. But they just don’t care if its a win against Kent St and the Citadel or Oklahoma St and West Virginia. Hence the problem. ACC Blindness, I hear its often permanent if not treated QUICKLY and AGGRESSIVELY.
I think CU_T4L is right. The fact is we don’t know that an undefeated Clemson would get shut out of a championship game like Boise St. or passed over for a 1-loss SEC/B12 team. No ACC team has run the table in a long time. And being undefeated is pretty much a prerequisite for consideration unless you’re Bama or LSU. Staying in the ACC is Clemson’s best shot.
Now, if it turns out the ACC has no chance at a being part of the playoff system then I’m all for conference change. My belief is that conference expansion and consolidation of the football powers is just a precursor to a break from the NCAA of the 64 (nice round number) best football schools to form their own association. There’s no way that Clemson would get left out. Here’s a link to an SI article from last year. This is one of those ideas, like the flat tax, that come around again and again but are too simple and rational and common sense to be seriously considered.
Hey Slappy!...Glad to see you walked through the light and crossed over to the land of good sports talk. ESPN wasteland is becoming a spot for USCAR fans too stupid to realize nobody is listening to them.
Last I heard Clemson after getting mad is back on board as of last weekend, and now probably telling Dabo to zip it for awhile.
Last I heard the Big 12 was thinking that 12 and half was all they need as the money is best with 12 members. Bowlsby is pretty smart and Clemson, FSU and Notre Dame are the best of what is left. It would make the Big 12 a formidable league demanding big bucks.
The SEC was told that Missouri and A & M did nothing for them money wise, they are getting the same. That had to hurt as now those schools have their hand in the till to get paid every year. Remember, the Big 10 is at 12, the PAC is at 12, the Big 12 will soon be at 12 and the SEC is at 14!
There is no guarantee the SEC is going to take anybody else and there is the gentleman’s agreement with Scar, FU and Georgia to keep us out which doesn’t bother me at all as long as FSU can get into the Big 12.
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Here is some more I have run across. It is a synopsis of what I am learning.
Of course The Big 12 has not signed the TV deal yet, there is much more money to be made with FSU and Clemson when they come aboard. I would say Barron’s job depends on getting this done.
The ground work began over a year ago when Syracuse and Pitt were added and FSU had no voice. They were furious. It was the final straw.
WVU, Clemson, FSU, Oklahoma, probably OSU and KU in the Eastern division. Oklahoma wants to play FSU every year. They want exposure in the fertile recruiting grounds of Florida. Texas gets to play Notre Dame provided they are excepted. Okahoma has already indicated they do not care if they play Texas again as they were looking at the PAC anyway.
They will no doubt play Texas as a crossover and if they win the eastern division, perhaps twice.
Texas will want a cross divisional rivalry with OU. Texas wanted WVU and OU wanted Louisville in the expanding Big 12 for the eastern division. OU will suddenly become a southeastern team. Clemson and FSU will become full members immediately.
The Big 12 will stay at 12 until pod system is approved by NCAA once the dust has settled.
I realize how you would feel if clemson does something that ridiculous and sits on this, I would be furious. I would be furious as an FSU proponent because Clemson coming with us is what is best for FSU, they are a good rival and fun game. I believe they will come along.
There is no comparison when it comes to having Clemson in the league or something like Louisville. It would be close to the same mistake FSU made when they let Bowden keep us out of the SEC. Yes he won, but where are we now, millions of dollars short on the budget end.
