The Southeastern Conference is going to do what it wants. So let it.

It is clear that the football-crazy SEC is in the driver’s seat over conference realignment. They already have the highest annual distribution among member schools because of the hundreds of millions, soon to be billions, of dollars that ESPN and Disney are willing to pay for their TV rights.

They lured Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 with money the Sooners and Longhorns could not turn down if they wanted to compete in the arms, recruiting and coaching races in college football, all of which increase odds of getting the golden goose or the national championship.

UCLA and USC leaving the Pac 12 for the Big Ten is completely different, and if I had to bet, I would wager against that ever happening. Sure, the Big Ten could create western and eastern regions to minimize travel of their teams, but this is all about football. Those two California schools recruit mostly from their state and out west, kids who want to play against other kids from their home regions. Many won’t sign with the Bruins or Trojans if their trips to Washington, Oregon and Arizona will now be to Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin as the weather gets colder.

So back to the SEC, which likely doesn’t care what happens in the Big Ten or the Pac 12. All their schools, including Oklahoma and Texas, are in the same regional footprint and won’t have problems formulating travel schedules for all of their varsity programs.

What will schools that are desirable to a Super SEC football league do, like Clemson, Florida State and even Carolina? Clemson and Florida State may go because they have national championship DNA and aspirations. UNC has never finished as the No. 1 football team in the country and that won’t be any easier in the SEC.

Yes, the ACC will try to get more TV money out of ESPN and other providers like CBS, which is dropping the SEC after this season. And the ACC might even wind up with Vanderbilt once the SEC decides not to distribute equal amounts to all of their members, giving Vandy a pathway out.

When the dust settles, we will likely have one or two conferences loaded with the best college football programs playing a championship post-season tournament, while Carolina and what’s left of the ACC consider their academic missions enough to stand pat and play for a conference championship and big bowl bid.

 

Photo via Butch Dill/Associated Press.

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