FSU, The ACC, The SEC And Why I Care
Posted by NoleCC
I know, I know. I tweeted the other day that I couldn’t care less about conference realignment. I was being a bit facetious because my Twitter home feed was crapped up with endless tweets on the subject. In reality, there are a billion reasons to care or not care. At the end of the day, as a small time booster and one fan of a program what I think about implications and / or repercussions of conference realignment has no influence over what happens. But, what matters is how this all could affect us as fans of Florida State University Athletics.
How I Feel As A Fan:
- This IS about football and nothing else. The money is in football and money drives the bus. As much as basketball, baseball and every other sport under the sun are affected, they don’t have a say in anything that might happen to the Seminoles. They’re along for the ride. If you’re not a fan of football, but only of the others sports, then I suggest you start paying attention to football too because that’s all that REALLY matters regarding big issues.
- It was fun kicking the crap out of the ACC in football throughout the 90′s. Then it wasn’t so fun being mediocre in a looked-down-upon-for-football conference in the 00′s. As fan, I think the ACC is stale in many ways. I have no hatred for most of the teams in the ACC. VT’s Hokie seems silly but sort of likeable, Boston College is arrogant with no reason to be, Duke and GT are busy yelling “Lerooooooy Jenkins!” at each other while drinking rich-chocolaty Ovaltine, Clemson is annoyingly talented and everyone else other than Miami is sort of “just there.”
- While I absolutely HATE the SEC mouth breathing mentality, as a fan it would be far more entertaining and brutal throughout the fall if FSU ends up as a part of the SEC. Think about it, every week is a good game pretty much with natural rivalries. FSU / Georgia? FSU / LSU? FSU / Tennessee? That pretty much sounds like a lot of good old fashioned hatred for years, right?
- On the flip of that, as fan, I worry about FSU’s place in the world if a defection to the SEC occurs. I think, like Auburn is to Alabama, the Noles will always be viewed as the annoying kid brother of the Gators, regardless of how often the Noles top Florida. FSU’s fan base still thinks 9 wins is a failure and a move to the SEC would make that a very good season.
- When it comes to everything other than football, the rivalries aren’t as intense and scheduling flexibility allows interesting rivalries to stick around. Softball would still schedule some west coast teams. Basketball would still play lots of quality opponents. Women’s Soccer would still be a fantastic team nationally. The fans won’t be hurt by a conference move.
Overall, what do I want? I’m very conflicted. The fan in me thinks of the HDTV possibilities each week and salivates. The businessman in me thinks if the SEC comes calling, then FSU has to go to it to avoid being in a potentially mid-tier ACC, especially if 3-4 teams are raided. On the flip side of that, I’ve enjoyed most of my interactions with ACC fans over the years and I doubt that cordiality would exist with visiting SEC fans. Plus, I’m betting that a move to the SEC will raise the expense of a weekend at Doak Campbell Stadium for the average fan. I’m definitely not for that. I think the pricing out of the average fan began a few years ago, and an SEC move would expedite the process.
What do you think? What would you be excited to see? What would you hate about a move? Leave me a comment.
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Jdogg on 
Chauncy on 
Redman on 
I think we might be able to negate some of the net loss in football with our basketball program. The ACC is continuously stacked. In the SEC, there is Tennessee and … sometimes LSU and sometimes UF? That would be a bonus. However, we would lose out on the money we get when we play Duke and UNC – either in attendance or TV money. That would be bad. An upset of Duke or UNC makes top headlines on ESPN, an upset of Tennessee would not.
Overall, I don’t like it. I like either the ACC or a mythical All-Florida Conference.
I am also not buying your opinion that the other teams in the ACC are stale. The ACC is average conference. But BY GOLLY Jimbo is here and we will rule supreme again!!!!111!!1!1!!
And if there was a playoff, conferences wouldn’t matter. There, I said it.
Well it’s just my opinion. Maybe because I’m not a basketball fan, but I’m generally indifferent to most of the ACC teams. It’s a collegial environment to me, whereas the SEC has plenty of hatred to go around.
I agree about the conference not mattering if there was a playoff, I’d especially like a 4 region playoff.
I’m not quite as conflicted on this issue. If we all agree that the more important sport is football, and I do, then a move to the SEC would be best. Let’s think about why. First of all, I agree with the sentiment that the games would be more exciting. But not because the SEC teams are so much greater than everyone else, which I have never bought into to begin with. The SEC has consistently had the most glorious media attention through the years, and that has reflected on preseason rankings… and claims of their greatness cause them to use weak out of conf scheduling as a reason to say their greatness hinges on how they play each other. Self fulfilling prophecy? Probably. Meanwhile, what was FSU doing the decade before they joined the ACC? Oh yeah, they were beating up on various SEC teams they played each season as a conference independent. The Noles have never been scared of competition, and they won’t start now if they joined the SEC.
Secondly, recruiting would be huge for the Noles in football. HUGE. Think of this fact… the only true recruiting edge UF has ever had on FSU is their SEC affiliation… every game is a media hype, thus more excitement, more exposure. This is why I believe UF would NEVER allow the SEC to take the Noles. It would kill the Gators recruiting edge. What non-obnoxious student would ever pick Florida over FSU if they were in the same conference?
Thirdly, the ACC is starting to hurt us. For years in the 90s, everyone said the ACC would get better by playing up to their competition. Well, they never did. They kept sucking and waited till FSU had some down years so we could play down to THEIR level. And even when we did that, we were in it every year and even still won it one. Do we really want to see this great rebuilt Seminole team start crushing the competition again, only to hear it doesn’t matter because it’s only the same old also-ran teams it has always been? I’m tired of the ACC.
True, we will hurt in basketball and maybe baseball with a defect from the ACC. But we should have been in the SEC to begin with. It would be nice to see us take our rightful place in pounding these overrated sec minions into submission. But, Alas, it will never happen. Like I said, if UF has any clout with sec officials and knows what is good for them, they will never let us get our foot in the door to try to steal their pie.
I’m quite curious to see how a dominant ACC Team in the ACC would stack up against two other undefeated teams from the BCS conferences, especially as FSU takes the bigger non-conference opponents off of the schedule in the coming years. Will FSU end up in a similar situation to Auburn?
I think it’s moot. UF will fight tooth and nail to keep FSU (and Miami) out of the SEC, because it would hurt their recruiting (in ALL sports). Georgia wouldn’t like it either for the same reason. South Carolina wouldn’t want Clemson for the same reason. Plus, it really wouldn’t add much in TV revenue. I also don’t think that VA Tech will split away from Virginia. So I don’t think the SEC will expand unless they somehow get Texas and Oklahoma. That is the only expansion that makes sense for them.