Amid an uncertain future with the ACC, Florida State received an endorsement from an unlikely source about where it belongs in the college football landscape.
Appearing on “A Peek Inside Florida Gators Football” podcast on YouTube, legendary Florida football coach Steve Spurrier gave a ringing endorsement for the Seminoles to join the SEC. The Seminoles and Clemson have been in legal proceedings with the ACC, seeking an exit from the conference. They are both tied to the ACC through 2036.
“I think FSU definitely belongs in the SEC,” Spurrier said on the podcast. “But Clemson sort of belongs there also. But I don’t know if the SEC wants to go to 18 teams. So I don’t know, maybe the Big Ten would like to have them. Who knows? But it is what it is. I think you just go one year at a time and then after that see where you’re at and go from there.”
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FSU finished the 2023 college football season with a 13-1 record, including a 13-0 undefeated mark during the regular season and winning the ACC championship. However, following a devastating injury to quarterback Jordan Travis, the Seminoles were snubbed from the College Football Playoff in favor of 12-1 Alabama.
After a plethora of opt-outs, Georgia blew out FSU in the Orange Bowl. However, Spurrier said the Seminoles would have fared well in the SEC last season.
“Oh, they’d do very well the way they played last year,” Spurrier said. “And I think Clemson would do pretty well. They would do better in the ACC as far as winning conference championships, but they want to play in the big time.”
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Spurrier posted a 5-8-1 record against the Seminoles in his 12 seasons, including a 1997 Sugar Bowl victory over their rival, to claim Florida’s first national championship in football.
However, Spurrier’s endorsement likely does not hold much weight to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who has publicly shown no indication the SEC will expand to 18 teams. Starting this year, the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma to the fold, bringing the total number of programs in the conference to 16.
“Well, we really had this great session where I talked about, really focused on our 16,” Sankey said on the “The Next Round” show. “And our presidents have said very clearly: We’re not going to be to be entangled in legal issues around any consideration of expansion. So, it’s not a conversation.
“And we’re not going to take our pie and slice it into more pieces. They have to grow the pie. And I have to be aware, so the question that led into this analysis is, ‘Are you paying attention?’ So, I have to pay attention.”
This is not the first time Spurrier has discussed FSU joining the SEC. Last year, he joined Mike Bianchi on “Open Mike” to advocate for the Seminoles in the SEC. Of course, FSU turned down the SEC in 1990 to join the ACC, as then-legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden said, “It was too difficult to win through the SEC to win a national championship.”
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“You know, I think they had a chance back right before they joined the ACC to maybe come into the SEC,” Spurrier said. “I remember Bobby Bowden said, ‘I don’t want to play that schedule.’ Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia. Of course, their schedule was tough enough since they played us and Miami. That made their schedule plenty difficult.
“Anyway, I used to sit back and say, ‘How come Alabama and Tennessee are not playing FSU like what we have to every year? Because in the ’90s, Nebraska was actually the winningest program in the county, and FSU was second. I mean, those guys, they had ball players all over the place. I think we were third and then Tennessee and Miami were after that back in the ’90s.
“If they come into the SEC, heck, that would be good, I think. And maybe bring Miami or Clemson, I guess, would be the other one that would be a possibility.”
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida legend Steve Spurrier endorses Florida State to join SEC from ACC
The Gainesville Sun
