Clemson football: Why ACC adding Notre Dame, West Virginia isn’t enough

The Clemson football program is about to experience seismic shift in the landscape of College Football.

As you’ve heard by now, the SEC is expected to be adding Oklahoma and Texas to its conference member institutions and there are talks that the two programs could begin competing in the SEC as soon as the 2022 season.

With the SEC adding two powerhouse programs to a conference that already possesses brands like Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida and Auburn, among others, the other conferences are now scrambling to put something together to remain relevant.

Why adding Notre Dame and West Virginia wouldn’t be enough for the ACC or Clemson football

There’s been a lot of talk about the ACC potentially adding both Notre Dame and West Virginia as a response to what we’re seeing unfold in the SEC.

While adding Notre Dame is something that should’ve been done several years ago, the truth of the matter is that adding those two programs wouldn’t be enough.

It would absolutely benefit the conference to add them. The football-side of the ACC would be much better if Notre Dame and West Virginia were a part. But let’s not pretend that’s going to compete with the SEC in terms of television revenue generated.

Sure, Clemson vs. West Virginia or Florida State vs. Notre Dame will be a big draw. But you know what’s going to hurt the conference? The lack of depth near the bottom.

See, while the SEC is going to have Texas vs. Ole Miss and Oklahoma vs. South Carolina, the ACC is going to have Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest and West Virginia vs. Georgia Tech. It’s just not on the same level in terms of branding, even if the competition does prove to be better.

One of the greatest hurdles that the ACC- in particular Clemson football- has had to overcome is the perception that the conference is mediocre. There have been years where that absolutely hasn’t been the case, but with brands like Miami, Virginia Tech and Florida State all down, the ACC has been overlooked in a major way.

That’s only going to be amplified with these SEC additions.

In turn, adding Notre Dame and West Virginia isn’t going to be enough for the ACC to overcome its already-garnered perception.

The SEC is going to be generating money hand-over-fist and that’s going to put programs, like Clemson football, at a major disadvantage. As time wears on and the revenue gap gets wider, we’re talking about an even bigger obstacle to overcome.

Maybe West Virginia is still relevant enough to garner a splash, but at this point we’re not sold on the Mountaineers being a major revenue generator.

The only way that adding West Virginia makes sense in any way is if you add Notre Dame.

Still, West Virginia and Notre Dame aren’t going to turn the perception of the conference around without programs like those mentioned above- in addition to others like Notre Dame- becoming relevant again.

The problem, though, is that’s going to take time and the ACC simply doesn’t have time. The conference needs to make moves and it has to make them now.

It’s almost like the ACC is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whether you like it or not, the conference is falling behind and they’ve got to make moves- like now- to avoid falling behind the Big Ten and even the potential Pac-12/Big 12 merger that is being rumored.

So, what’s the remedy? What has to happen? What would be enough?

I can’t say for certain right now. Maybe it’s a conference merger. Maybe adding a couple of programs of West Virginia’s caliber is enough.

Maybe it’s an overreaction, but, right now, it seems to be that the ACC is stuck between a rock and a hard place in the worst kind of way.