Hayes: Source says FSU’s advisors ‘doing them a disservice’ in fight to leave ACC

DALLAS — The longer Florida State’s planned exit from the ACC drags on this offseason, the more problematic it becomes.

When asked Tuesday if Florida State’s process of leaving the ACC would end with a spot in the Big Ten, a Big Ten source told Saturday Down South, “I don’t know who’s advising (FSU) right now, but they’re doing them a disservice.”

Action Network’s Brett McMurphy reported Tuesday that Florida State’s only road to the Big Ten is a complete dismantling of the ACC. In other words, if FSU, Clemson, North Carolina and Virginia — the league’s most marketable and in-demand properties — all leave the ACC and it becomes an unviable Power conference, FSU’s odds of landing in the Big Ten increase.

If not, McMurphy reported, FSU doesn’t have a place in the Big Ten or SEC.

It now looks as though FSU’s very public extraction from the ACC — with the narrative that the school wouldn’t leave the ACC without a private approval from the Big Ten — is more of a high stakes, risk/reward gamble playing out in real time.

Over the past 3 months, Big Ten sources have told Saturday Down South that FSU wasn’t a “fit” with the league or a dependable “partner” with its public extraction from the ACC.

Over that time, FSU has sued the ACC to make public the media rights contract with ESPN, trying to expose the deal and negotiation process. That move specifically sent shockwaves through the Big Ten, multiple Big Ten sources told Saturday Down South, with conference officials concerned what FSU would attempt if it weren’t happy with future media rights deals.

“They’re showing themselves to not be a dependable partner,” a second Big Ten source told Saturday Down South. “At the end of the day, you have to trust your partners. You have to know everyone is zeroed in on the same goal, the same future.”

If the ACC doesn’t break up, what then becomes of FSU? More than likely, the Big 12 — the only other Power conference available — is the landing spot.

Meanwhile, SEC sources continue to affirm to Saturday Down South that further conference expansion plans — if needed and available (see: dismantling of the ACC) — would include schools that “fit” the SEC model, and are in new contiguous states that fit the league’s geographic footprint.

That makes North Carolina and Virginia top targets for the SEC — if they and others leave and destabilize the ACC.

There’s a reason SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Monday made it clear that the league’s footprint is in contiguous states, and that the conference is the only Power league that doesn’t have a number attached to it.

Translation: It’s the Southeastern Conference. It’s not a national conference — as both the Big Ten and Big 12 have promoted. Even though new members Texas and Oklahoma are more Southwest states, they are still geographically connected.

Matt Hayes

Matt Hayes is a national college football writer for Saturday Down South. You can hear him daily from 12-3 p.m. on 1010XL in Jacksonville. Follow on Twitter @MattHayesCFB