Clemson, FSU, Louisville, VA Tech, Miami, and either NC State or GA Tech, were predicted by longtime college football radio host Greg Swaim to join the Big 12 if/when the ACC collapses due to their legal troubles with the Tigers and Noles.
"So getting a lot of you asking me which six ACC teams the Big 12 is likely to poach," Swaim prefaced before saying, "Obviously very early in the process, and we'll know who's leaving by 8/15 for the ACC deadline, but here would be my educated guess as of today...Clemson, FSU, Card Nation, VT, The U, and either NC State or GT."
Mike Farrell (of the Mike Farrell Sports brand) offers a different perspective, though: the Big 12 doesn't have the money to make any such moves -- and he was referring to just FSU and Clemson -- without upsetting its current members.
"Rumors of the Big 12 helping to pay a buyout for both is ridiculous as they don’t have the money for such a thing without dipping into TV revenue and pissing off other teams in the conference," Farrell wrote. "I love realignment rumors. And we will continue to report and speculate on them because it’s fun. But we will also speak what we know. And right now, Clemson and FSU aren’t going to the Big 12 — and they don’t want to anyhow."
Arbitrary dates becoming a theme in realignment rumors
July 12 was the first arbitrary date thrown around this summer as a potential target date for school movement. Swaim hinted that FSU and Clemson could make a decision by that date but it has come and gone without changes.
So how much should we believe from this latest report? Perhaps not much.
Swaim himself hinted that Yormark doesn't want to deal with the potential headaches FSU could cause. There's different intel being shared every day regarding teams with potential Big 12 invites.
It's hard to tell exactly what to believe these days. But FSU and Clemson eventually leaving the ACC is still the safest bet in sports.