WE’RE MOVING OUT!
Bobby V bolts for beaucoups de bucks, TV treasure -- UConn, Notre Dame football on the move to create ACC “Superconference”, “free-for-all” championship game structure
Oh my. Bobby V has killed us. Maybe.
Bobby Valentine, the now third-year athletic director at UConn, helped to single handedly shift the balance of power in college athletics today. UConn has officially bought out of the Big 12 and announced that he has struck a deal with commissioner John Swofford and the ACC to gain immediate membership for the 2021-22 academic year. The move will bring the ACC to 16 teams and, after years of speculation out of other conferences, create the first ever college football "super conference".
Notre Dame will also bring their NBC TV deal with them, which will create the ACC Network under the Comcast banner. As it stands right now, NBC will likely serve to air Notre Dame games and/or the ACC game of the week depending on scheduling. NBCSN will also pick up some ACC programming while everything else will air on the new ACC Network. By the time conference play begins, the hope is that all games will be aired by one of the television affiliates. As such, it is expected that NBC will air the ACC championship game, but more information about that will be forthcoming.
As for divisional alignments, the new super conference is going with a unique look:
No divisions. With the NCAA’s approval, the new ACC will scrap divisions entirely and the two teams with the best conference records will play in the ACC’s title game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. That could create some hectic scenarios later on, but the move ensures that no team gets to sneak in via a weak division; the two best teams play for the conference championship, and therefore the hope lies that the best team will make the College Football Playoff (ed. note. Georgia Tech made the playoff last year despite not playing in the ACC Title Game).
The move was long expected from the ACC. Swofford had been in talks with UConn and Notre Dame all year -- Notre Dame was already a member in all sports except football. The ACC has perhaps been the worst of the power 5 conferences since 2014, having only fielded two playoff teams since the playoff’s inception in 2014 -- Georgia Tech twice, in 2018 and 2020, both semifinal losses. In the seven seasons of the playoff, both the American and Conference USA (one each) have won more playoff games than the ACC has (none).
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Arkansas State to Big 12 East
College football’s hottest small school commodity is moving on up.
To replace UConn, the Big 12 and commissioner Bob Bowlsby have unanimously decided upon the Sun Belt’s Arkansas State to move to the Big 12 East division. No other divisional changes will be made inside that conference.
The three time defending Sun Belt football champs announced their decision to change conferences in October. Athletic director Terry Mojahir said at the time that a move up would be in the best interest of the entire university; the expansion of the Big 12’s market into the southeast with a school that has a growing fan base makes legitimate sense.
Led by former TCU offensive coordinator Doug Meacham, the Red Wolves finished 12-1 in 2020, getting passed up for the playoff in the last week because of their weak out of conference schedule. Arkansas State beat Missouri in the Cotton Bowl and finished second in the final AP polls, marking their first win in the “Big Boy Bowls”.
The Sun Belt has tabbed independent UAB to take their place; they will remain at 8 teams.