Catchall FSU Gone/Snubbed/White Knighting Thread

[midatlantech]

It would be easy to see the Big Ten taking FSU and Clemson if they believe they need more national brand names. After Mich, Ohio State and Penn State, it drops off of late. Oregon adds but USC, UCLA have been down for a while now.

If the Ten go for market share, AAU schools like they said they wanted years ago, then certainly UNC, GT and Miami would seem likely.

What I can’t figure is how Duke plays in all this. I think UNC may be taken before GT and if so we will be left out. UNC will push for Duke or UVA ahead of us.

We also have another problem in that we told them no once. Most people don’t go back after being turned down.

We have five years to change our football image. We might get lucky but there is a lot in our way.

Assuming we don’t get invited, I’d like to see us create a national conference of Stanford, Cal, ND, GT, Duke etc.

I thinking worrying about this is a waste of time however.

Having said that either FSU has an offer or they don’t. My guess is they don’t but are trying to create their own market. They know that if they wait, there might not be anything later. They are creating themselves as the obvious top choice. I think it’s a good move on their part.

 

[USCJacket]

Well, we will see then, won't we? Oregon is already in the BIG10, so they obviously have already made the leap to big boy football conference.

The SEC and BIG10 can leave Clemson and FSU out to wilt, if they so desire, after the ACC breaks up. They can go join the ACC west, AKA, BIG12, and be in exactly the same predicament they are in now, compared to SEC and BIG10 schools

Hell, Maryland and Rutgers are gonna make more money than Clemson.

Oregon and Washington took a percentage of the payout to join the B1G when it was evident the P12 was going to dissolve. So like Stanford, Cal with the ACC, Oregon, Washington we’re just happy to have a seat at the table.

If FSU starts the dominoes toward dissolving the ACC as we know it, schools with have more time to find the next landing spot. Whether that’s the B1G, B12 or sec.

 

[USCJacket]

It would be easy to see the Big Ten taking FSU and Clemson if they believe they need more national brand names. After Mich, Ohio State and Penn State, it drops off of late. Oregon adds but USC, UCLA have been down for a while now.

You do realize USC was on the doorstep of the CFP in 2022, right? Caleb Williams injury in the P12 Championship game ended that. That said, Lincoln Riley has a lot to prove next year which won’t be easy in the new B1G with the amount USC is losing to the Draft and Portal. Riley better fix what’s broken from the Portal over the next few months.

UCLA needs the B1G influx of $$$. Chip Kelly has been vocal about UCLA‘s issues compared to Oregon, USC, etc. But they have sort of been stabilized with an 8,9,8 win seasons now.

 

[BrentwoodJacket]

It would be easy to see the Big Ten taking FSU and Clemson if they believe they need more national brand names. After Mich, Ohio State and Penn State, it drops off of late. Oregon adds but USC, UCLA have been down for a while now.

If the Ten go for market share, AAU schools like they said they wanted years ago, then certainly UNC, GT and Miami would seem likely.

What I can’t figure is how Duke plays in all this. I think UNC may be taken before GT and if so we will be left out. UNC will push for Duke or UVA ahead of us.

We also have another problem in that we told them no once. Most people don’t go back after being turned down.

We have five years to change our football image. We might get lucky but there is a lot in our way.

Assuming we don’t get invited, I’d like to see us create a national conference of Stanford, Cal, ND, GT, Duke etc.

I thinking worrying about this is a waste of time however.

We need to sell our academic and accessibility advantages over every other ACC school to the B10. We also offer the best location for both recruiting and alumni concentration.
Fortunately we now have a President and an AD that can represent our interests.
The last time we were invited we had an incompetent president and an incompetent AD.

 

[midatlantech]

We need to sell our academic and accessibility advantages over every other ACC school to the B10. We also offer the best location for both recruiting and alumni concentration.
Fortunately we now have a President and an AD that can represent our interests.
The last time we were invited we had an incompetent president and an incompetent AD.

I do agree with you but in fairness, 10 years ago we had a fairly new conference which invluddd football schools Miami, FSU, VPI, GT, Clemson. Four out of five schools $&#* the bed. At the time we had put together a conference making similar money with similar expectations.
If Bama, LSU, UGA had not risen up when UF, UT drifted off, the SEC would be having these same conversations. GT needs to fully rise up!

 

[ETBee]

Mid is correct. At the time of this supposed offer to join the Big, the football powerhouse lineup in the ACC looked pretty darn good. It seemed reasonable to think the ACC could rival the SEC in football and we were still the dominant hoops conference. Rivalries among those 5 teams made for a lot of games to look forward to each year and traveling to the frozen north to play Illinois and Minnesota didn't seem all that attractive. At the time I don't recall a lot of discussion about huge differences in payouts from one conference to another. I think that emerged in the decade since with the big TV deals.

I referred to it as a "supposed offer to join the Big" because I have never seen any proof there ever was an offer that GT would have reasonably accepted. All I see is it being repeated over and over again on this board. Can anyone cite a public statement from the Big or from GT administration that an offer was actually made? Please provide a link.

 

[zippyGT]

Snake oil salesman make a living duping everyone, even the GOAT. Glad he’s no longer physically our problem and glad we found a guy who was able to wipe most of his stain off of our program relatively quickly.

I had to re-read my post, but I got it right. Saban complemented KEY not the clown.

 

[Dirty Jacket]

I had to re-read my post, but I got it right. Saban complemented KEY not the clown.

Got it. I thought you meant he was complimenting Goof, which I wouldn’t hold against him. I’m sure in a non-executive get-my-coffee-and-ööööing-wear-longer-pants-for-the-last-time he was fine to have around.

 

[dmann]

Mid is correct. At the time of this supposed offer to join the Big, the football powerhouse lineup in the ACC looked pretty darn good. It seemed reasonable to think the ACC could rival the SEC in football and we were still the dominant hoops conference. Rivalries among those 5 teams made for a lot of games to look forward to each year and traveling to the frozen north to play Illinois and Minnesota didn't seem all that attractive. At the time I don't recall a lot of discussion about huge differences in payouts from one conference to another. I think that emerged in the decade since with the big TV deals.

I referred to it as a "supposed offer to join the Big" because I have never seen any proof there ever was an offer that GT would have reasonably accepted. All I see is it being repeated over and over again on this board. Can anyone cite a public statement from the Big or from GT administration that an offer was actually made? Please provide a link.

No public statements from B1G or GT. Don't think there was ever an invite - just preliminary talks. Here's an article I found recently that details GT's journey from the SEC to the ACC and mentions the B1G's interest. Snippets of the the article is below.

Georgia Tech's realignment roller coaster, from leaving the SEC to Big Ten talks

Georgia Tech has been in the ACC for 40-plus years, but few schools can match its conference realignment what-ifs. What's next?

theathletic.com

At the time, markets were seen as the big get for expansion, so the Big Ten’s interest in Georgia Tech would be obvious: the Atlanta market. Georgia Tech never publicly expressed any interest in leaving the ACC. Then-president Bud Peterson did not return a message seeking comment.

But three people in the Georgia Tech athletic department at the time, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about the discussions, confirmed there were talks with the Big Ten. They never reached the final stages, with different views on why talks didn’t get serious.

“It was stopped early,” one former Georgia Tech staffer said. “There was an early enough indicator to say, ‘We’re not interested,’ that it didn’t really go further than that.”

There just wasn’t enough alignment within the school to do something as bold as switching conferences, especially to what was more a hypothetical than a real offer. The feeling was it would be an uphill argument among the fans and biggest donors, who tend to be more traditional and risk-averse.

Peterson, who retired in 2019, was a member of the NCAA Board of Governors, and when there were overtures, the school was reluctant to contribute to the chaos of college athletics. There also was respect for then-ACC commissioner John Swofford.

 

[JJacket]

No public statements from B1G or GT. Don't think there was ever an invite - just preliminary talks. Here's an article I found recently that details GT's journey from the SEC to the ACC and mentions the B1G's interest. Snippets of the the article is below.

Georgia Tech's realignment roller coaster, from leaving the SEC to Big Ten talks

Georgia Tech has been in the ACC for 40-plus years, but few schools can match its conference realignment what-ifs. What's next?

theathletic.com

Respect for Swofford, despite the universal derision from our fanbase...

 

[savbandjacket]

Respect for Swofford, despite the universal derision from our fanbase...

He and Peterson were obviously exchanging reach arounds.

 

[JJacket]

He and Peterson were obviously exchanging reach arounds.

It pisses me off because respect for Swofford should not have a damn thing to do with doing what is best for Georgia Tech. If numbers were run and it was decided that various factors made the best decision to stay in the ACC, fine. If going to the Big10 was shut down quickly without taking a look, because Swofford was a big buddy, then he not only failed his fiduciary responsibility to Georgia Tech, he is responsible for the mess GT finds itself in now. Ugh. Asshole.

 

[zippyGT]

Respect for Swofford, despite the universal derision from our fanbase...

Swofford reading this:

 

[ETBee]

Thanks, Dmann. That basically confirms what I have always thought - the ACC looked like a pretty good place to be at the time. There were a lot of interesting regional football rivalries in the ACC and beyond Michigan and Ohio State there was no one of interest in the Big. There was still some shine left on our basketball program as well and staying in the premier basketball conference seemed like a good idea. Just like Dodd's decision to leave the SEC, at the time no one knew how the world was about to change that would make that decision look really bad.

 

[JJacket]

Thanks, Dmann. That basically confirms what I have always thought - the ACC looked like a pretty good place to be at the time. There were a lot of interesting regional football rivalries in the ACC and beyond Michigan and Ohio State there was no one of interest in the Big. There was still some shine left on our basketball program as well and staying in the premier basketball conference seemed like a good idea. Just like Dodd's decision to leave the SEC, at the time no one knew how the world was about to change that would make that decision look really bad.

Dodd single handedly set GT football back 60 years. We've been trying to right the shop since, all while celebrating what he accomplished as a coach in the 1950's.

 

[zippyGT]

There were a lot of interesting regional football rivalries in the ACC and beyond Michigan and Ohio State there was no one of interest in the Big.

That’s still true. There’s no one of interest to play other than Ohio State and Michigan. The B1G isn’t that interesting of a conference, it just has very large schools which results in an very large TV deal.

The same can be said of the XII. There’s no one in that conference I’d get excited to see us play now that Texas is gone.

 

[JJacket]

That’s still true. There’s no one of interest to play other than Ohio State and Michigan. The B1G isn’t that interesting of a conference, it just has very large schools which results in an very large TV deal.

The same can be said of the XII. There’s no one in that conference I’d get excited to see us play now that Texas is gone.

I hope to God FSU goes to the XII to wilt.

 

[THWG247]

I hope to God FSU goes to the XII to wilt.

Or independent

 

[77GTFan]

Dodd single handedly set GT football back 60 years. We've been trying to right the shop since, all while celebrating what he accomplished as a coach in the 1950's.

I disagree with this. I also disagree with Dodd’s decision to leave the SEC. But, to say that Dodd is responsible for our football history for sixty years is overstated. If this were true, then we should say Bobby Dodd strategically set us up to win a national championship in 1990. I understand his reasons for leaving. And, as integration came to Southern football it might have been that Tech and Tulane would have trended more like Vanderbilt than Georgia during the 70’s.

Dodd’s decision did negatively impact Tech sports through their decade and a half as an independent. Doug Weaver did not help the situation. But, joining the ACC and decisions made by Homer Rice brought to an end the problems brought about by leaving the ACC. Basketball, tennis, golf, baseball - these sports thrived as never before and Ross, O’Leary, Gailey and Johnson showed football could be successful as an ACC school. Any problems we face now in this crazy era of conference expansion are the result of decisions made by our conference leadership and recent AD’s.

 

[GTCrew4b]

That’s still true. There’s no one of interest to play other than Ohio State and Michigan. The B1G isn’t that interesting of a conference, it just has very large schools which results in an very large TV deal.

The same can be said of the XII. There’s no one in that conference I’d get excited to see us play now that Texas is gone.

Let’s imagine a world where we went to the Big Ten East instead of Rutgers. Our divisional games would’ve been Ohio State, PSU, Michigan, Maryland, Michigan State, and Indiana. Those are some cool games.