SEC football doesn't have to fear the Big Ten – yet. But what if the ACC fractures?
At 18 teams, the Big Ten will be the biggest FBS conference once Oregon, Southern Cal, UCLA and Washington join next year, but will it be the nation’s best conference?
While the B1G nabbed four of the Pac-12’s top brands in a two-stage process, the SEC will counter with a 16-team league accented by the arrival of Oklahoma and Texas.
The two super-leagues have distanced themselves from the rest of Division I.
The Big Ten can compete with the SEC on the financial ledger, and the conference will span from coast to coast after the arrival of this Pac-12 quartet.
But, the SEC isn't in danger of getting passed on the playing field – not yet, anyway.
On this edition of “SEC Football Unfiltered,” a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams discuss what the Big Ten’s additions (and the Pac-12’s demise) mean for the SEC and whether the SEC needs to craft a rebuttal expansion.
Subscribe to SEC Football Unfiltered
iTunes | Google Play | Spotify
Their verdict: While the SEC would have preferred for the Pac-12 to survive , these Big Ten maneuvers do not threaten the SEC's supremacy.
Throughout the College Football Playoff’s nine years, the Pac-12 only supplied two playoff qualifiers. Oregon and Washington each qualified once. USC and UCLA were never playoff teams. The Pac-12’s last team to win a national championship was 2004 USC.
So, the B1G raid of the West Coast does not reorder the hierarchy of a sport dominated by teams located in the Southeast quadrant of the country. Ohio State is the only program outside of the Southeast to win a national championship in the past 17 seasons.
No team located west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has won the national championship since 2005 Texas. The Southeast pumps out plenty of blue-chip recruits, and SEC teams usually enjoy first pick of that talent, while also factoring into recruiting decisions in other key regions.
TOPPMEYER: Here's my plan for three 20-team NCAA super-conferences. Who's in? Who's out?
ADAMS: Don't believe in Tennessee football quarterback Joe Milton? This might change your mind
The Big Ten's four additions will enhance its conference, but they don’t push the SEC off the football summit.
The SEC was not interested in adding Pac-12 teams. If the ACC were to fracture, though, that likely would generate action from the SEC.
So far, the Big Ten has not penetrated the South.
Fissures are forming in the ACC, with Florida State loudly and repeatedly barking in dissent of the conference’s media rights deal, which pales in financial comparison to the Big Ten and SEC deals.
What if fissures become fractures? So far, the media rights deal has glued ACC membership in place, but if programs like FSU find an escape hatch, the SEC must be ready to pounce, lest the Big Ten invade valuable Southern terrain.
Unlike the Pac-12, the ACC has produced three national champions in the past 10 seasons (Clemson twice and FSU once). Clemson and FSU are ranked preseason top 10. The Big Ten snapping up either of those programs would be a coup.
MORE FROM TOPPMEYER AND ADAMS: Sign up for the SEC Unfiltered newsletter for exclusive columns delivered free to your inbox
Then there’s North Carolina, a basketball blueblood with a football program that’s played respectably under Mack Brown. North Carolina is a growing state, and Charlotte headquarters the SEC Network. In the past, the SEC has embraced opportunities to expand into border states that mesh with the conference’s brand. North Carolina checks that box. If the Big Ten nabbed the Tar Heels out from under the SEC’s nose, it would sting.
Bottom line: The Big Ten’s heist of four Pac-12 schools made it better. However, the adds don’t propel the B1G past the SEC. But, if the ACC were to fracture and the Big Ten outdueled the SEC for some of the ACC's top brands, that would be a fiercer blow.
The SEC must stay vigilant and be ready to act if ACC schools are determined to break out of the conference’s sticky grant of rights.
Later in the episode
– Adams and Toppmeyer react to the preseason USA TODAY AFCA coaches poll, which features six SEC teams in the Top 25. Adams logs a bold opinion on LSU, while Toppmeyer says Ole Miss and South Carolina each could improve this season – but not show it on their record, due to stiffer schedules.
Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. John Adams is the senior columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. You can subscribe to their podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: SEC football doesn't have to fear the Big Ten – yet. But what if ACC fractures?
