Greg Sankey says the SEC is 16 strong today and will remain at 16 strong tomorrow.
Sankey has less to say about what happens next week, or next month, or next year.
Meanwhile, fissures linger in the ACC. Florida State wants out of the conference it’s competed in since 1992. The Seminoles and Clemson are both suing the ACC. That’s not the sign of a league in harmony.
If FSU, Clemson and others defect, where would they go? Top options would be some order of the Big Ten and SEC, with the Big 12 as the only fallback option.
On this edition of “SEC Football Unfiltered,” a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams discuss the possibility of additional SEC expansion and whether the SEC’s standing would be damaged if FSU and Clemson wound up in the Big Ten.
The SEC sounds content at 16, but the risk of standing on the sideline amid further realignment would be the Big Ten growing stronger and narrowing the competitive gap.
Adding FSU and Clemson would bring the B1G closer to the SEC. And, for the first time, the Big Ten would penetrate the South.
Should the SEC keep an open mind to adding Florida State and Clemson?
Toppmeyer: Absolutely the SEC should consider FSU and Clemson if they wriggle out of the ACC. It also should open its doors to North Carolina and a potential fourth school (Virginia?). On the matter of FSU and Clemson, those schools are a tailormade fit the SEC’s geography, brand, culture and football pedigree. Further, they’d solidify the SEC as the nation’s best football conference and create more breathing room with the Big Ten. In contrast, if those schools wind up calling the B1G home, the SEC would remain the top dog in football, but by a narrower margin.
Adams: The SEC might need to return to its defensive roots by adding FSU and Clemson. The SEC doesn’t seem to want the Seminoles and Tigers badly enough to go on the offensive, but if they become available, adding these two ACC powers would be the ultimate defense against the Big Ten.
If FSU, Clemson join the Big Ten, would it leapfrog the SEC?
The SEC probably would retain an edge. The SEC has produced 13 of the past 18 national champions, and that doesn’t change regardless of what FSU and Clemson do. But, the Big Ten would be well-positioned to match the SEC for playoff bids if it had FSU and Clemson in tow.
Consider these nine top-end programs from the SEC: Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Auburn.
Now, compare that to nine B1G programs if that conference nabs FSU and Clemson: Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson, FSU, Southern Cal, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Who enjoys the advantage? Slight top-end advantage to the SEC?
Now, consider a few of the programs that are more traditionally toward the lower end of the conference: Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.
Compare that to these five from the B1G: Maryland, Illinois, Rutgers, Indiana and Northwestern.
Who enjoys the advantage? Here again, the SEC has an advantage. Top to bottom, the SEC would remain the stronger conference, but the separation gets narrower at the top end if the Big Ten adds FSU and Clemson. If those two schools joined the SEC, it would be game, set, match. The SEC’s supremacy would be ironclad.
Later in the episode
∎ Toppmeyer and Adams react to some of Nick Saban’s spiciest quotes from SEC media days.
Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s SEC Columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why SEC should keep door open to FSU, Clemson (Don’t trust the Big Ten.)
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