With rumors flying that Clemson has had serious talks with the SEC about joining what the conference hopes to be a “20 school super conference” there are a lot of reasons that the move would make sense for both parties.
Clemson is a top 25 public school despite not having a law or medical school and is top 30 in nearly every varsity sport it offers, which are both big attractions to the SEC; so it makes sense that both could potentially have interest in each other.
From a football standpoint, the Tigers have never been scared to play anyone from any conference, let alone the SEC under the direction of head coach Dabo Swinney and that won’t change in the future, regardless of who the head coach is.
Jumping to the SEC would also help recruiting across the board because there are recruits in every sport that love what Clemson offers but still want the allure of playing for an SEC school, so from an athletics standpoint, it would make a lot of sense.
The best part of jumping to the SEC has nothing to do with athletics or academics.
South Carolina can do nothing to stop Clemson from joining the SEC
The only argument that South Carolina currently has when disparaging Clemson, is that they are a member of what many consider to be the greatest conference in all of college athletics.
They aren’t better academically and sure as hell aren’t better athletically but more than any other fan base from the SEC, the Gamecocks let everyone know their conference membership is what separates them from Clemson.
The best part – they are powerless to stop it.
SEC presidents and athletic directors know what it would mean to add the branding power that Clemson has and while South Carolina would vote no to stop the Tigers from coming, every other school would vote yes.
Given that SEC bylaws state that only 75 percent of the member schools need to vote yes to approve conference expansion, the Gamecocks would be left holding nothing but a box of Kleenex as they kiss their only perceived bragging point goodbye.
While leaving the ACC would be beneficial in many ways for Clemson, the best reason is that nothing tastes better than Gamecock tears and there would be plenty of them should the SEC and Clemson decide to join forces in the near future.