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Clemson football: Surprise teams the ACC should target

By Andrew Boardwine

Jul 22, 2021; Charlotte, NC, USA; Clemson Tigers quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei speaks to the media during the ACC Kickoff at The Westin Charlotte. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 22, 2021; Charlotte, NC, USA; Clemson Tigers quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei speaks to the media during the ACC Kickoff at The Westin Charlotte. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports /
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conference expansion
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips. Clemson football and conference expansion Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports /

The Clemson football faithful will have their eyes fixated on potential conference realignment over the course of the next few weeks.

It has been reported that both Texas and Oklahoma are set to give notice to the Big 12 that they will be leaving the league and the two schools are expected to subsequently fill out the application to join the SEC.

With the two powerful brands of Oklahoma and Texas joining the league that already makes the most money year-in and year-out, other conferences are now seemingly scrambling to make something happen through expansion.

Though we haven’t heard anything official as of yet, two of the names that have been tied to expansion in the ACC have been Notre Dame and West Virginia. But what if the conference decided to go outside-of-the-box?

Here’s a look at some surprise teams the ACC could target in expansion and what that would look like for Clemson football. We’ll start with what the conference could do to ‘swing for the fences.’

Ohio State Buckeyes

I know what you’re thinking: There’s no way that Ohio State would leave the Big Ten. The Buckeyes have been a part of the Big Ten conference since 1912 and there would be almost nothing to lure them out of the conference.

What if this had more to do with Kevin Warren and the potential to get out of the bad leadership in the Big Ten than anything else?

Ohio State- among others- has not been happy with the leadership of the Big Ten conference over the past few years and what if we saw a deal come together where the Buckeyes came into the ACC along with a team like Notre Dame?

The Big Ten has generated more revenue than the ACC in the past, but the addition of the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish at the same time could be enough to give the conference leverage to negotiate a better network deal and to maintain competition with the SEC.

It’s a longshot and something that we don’t see happening, but there’s still nothing wrong with swinging for the fences.

What other surprise teams could the ACC target? Here’s a look.

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