Clemson Football: Friday Realignment Update

Clemson Football opened fall camp today, and there will be plenty of tidbits the insiders will share as the next few practices commence.

While Dabo Swinney and the team will be focused inward, the fans will continue to keep an eye on the happenings in the world around us. There are more things brewing on the conference realignment front, and while they don’t directly involve Clemson yet, it is hard to predict exactly how things will play out.

As mentioned in the Clemson Roundup this morning, Arizona applied for Big 12 membership and the conference approved the application. Once the Board of Regents approves the move, the Wildcats will become the fourteenth member of the Big 12 in 2024.

Ross Dellinger explains that Arizona State and Utah aren’t in a hurry to get involved, but they aren’t too far behind.

Meanwhile, Oregon and Washington are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place. The rock is a PAC that might only have six members in 2024 and would likely need to expand. The hard place is their most desired landing spot, the Big Ten, playing hardball.

As speculated here yesterday, the Big Ten senses the Pacific Northwest can be gotten on the cheap and they are looking for a sweetheart deal.

As Clemson Football starts camp, schools out west continue realignment

Though there is a morning article that Oregon would accept a Big Ten invite, now according to The Athletic, the two schools might be mustering their pride and pushing back:

This one might not be a slam dunk.

What does this mean for the Clemson Tigers and the ACC? It probably doesn’t mean much. The Grant of Rights is still a thing sadly, and despite the sword rattling in Tallahassee, there is no credible hypothesis thus far on how anyone will challenge it.

Clemson is taking a different approach than their peer Florida State and keeping their opinions and plans private for now.

Until that changes, we will keep one eye on happenings out west and the other on fall camp.