Clemson football: Another round of college football realignment means certain uncertainty

ORLANDO, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 29: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers walks on the field prior to the game against the Iowa State Cyclones in the Cheez-It Bowl Game at Camping World Stadium on December 29, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Well, we don’t know. For college football as a whole, this certainly seems like the beginning of a new “manifest destiny” of college football colonization, especially its 2 most wealthy conferences (The Big 10 and the SEC). Although I do believe there are some emergency levers that might be pulled to save other conferences from meeting the same presumed fate of the Pac 12.

That brings us to the ACC. Saying that things might be tense for Commissioner Jim Phillips might be an understatement. Rumors quickly began to swirl that both the Big 10 and SEC might have an appetite to make a play for some more conference members. The ACC seems ripe for the picking with a terribly drawn out media rights deal that doesn’t end until 2036, and conference revenue that is well behind the likes of the 2 larger conferences. Teams like Clemson, UNC, Miami and Florida State would seem to be easy targets, unless there is a late play to re-do the current media rights deal.