Clemson Football: What could the SEC/Big Ten advisory board lead to?

A Power One

The fact that the SEC and Big Ten are engaging in a joint advisory group without inviting presidents from the ACC, Big 12, or Notre Dame speaks to the reality that they see each other as peers, but don't necessarily see the others the same way.

Do you know who else saw each other as peers at one time? The Big Ten, the ACC, and the PAC-12. The Alliance. Remember how they didn’t invite the Big 12? They didn’t see them as a peer.

How’d that work out? Big Ten scooped up two of the most profitable programs in the PAC-12. Just a couple of years later the whole conference fell apart. Suddenly you can question whether the Big 12 considers the ACC to be a true peer.

Like I said earlier, the Big Ten has some rich programs that aren’t that great at football. It gives them a clear advantage over the other conferences.

If Clemson were to get the opportunity to join the Big Ten, I wouldn’t turn that chance down. If Clemson were to have the choice between the SEC and Big Ten, I would choose the SEC every time.

Do Midwest and West Coast fanbases love their programs? Absolutely they do, but dedicated fanbases aren’t what sets the SEC apart. Why? The heart of college football is in the Southeast.

Some of the programs in the Big Ten recruit nationally, which is good because few of them exist in a state/region that is saturated with talent. There are programs in the SEC that are very capable of recruiting nationally who don’t have to. They can just look out their back door.

Kids who grow up in talent-heavy states in the Southeast don’t grow up thinking “I’m going to play in the Big Ten one day.” They say “I’m going to play in the SEC one day.”

Would Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, and Texas leave the SEC for the Big Ten? I just couldn’t see that.

Would Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and USC leave the Big Ten for the SEC? Yeah, I think they could.