You know, it was less than a year ago that people were saying Florida State and Clemson to the SEC was a done deal.
First the topic was the topic of wonder and conjecture, and then ESPN's Doug Gottlieb created official hysteria when he reported that the Noles and Tigers were headed to the SEC.
To be fair, Gottlieb did also report Missouri was SEC bound. And that happened, of course. But a .333 batting average, while very good in baseball, is very bad in covering the realignment game.
If you're a reporter and you care about getting stuff right, trying to chronicle this stuff is a delicate and dangerous endeavor. How many people in the summers of 2010 and 2011 ended up looking like idiots for forecasting developments that did not happen?
Pretty sure it was Tony Barnhart who perfectly summed up this reporting tightrope last summer when he said people covering realignment "can be 100 percent right at breakfast and 100 percent wrong by supper." Maybe that explains why Barnhart and some of the most respected voices in college football coverage choose to largely stay on the sidelines every year when this roller-coaster cranks up.
Regarding the current buzz about Florida State and Clemson and the Big 12, I have no idea what is going to happen. Is Florida State really interested in the Big 12? Is the Big 12 really interested in Florida State after Florida State's president took a major shot at the Big 12's academic reputation? Would Clemson go to the Big 12? Would the Big 12 even be interested in Clemson over, say, Notre Dame or Louisville?
It does seem like claims of FSU and Clemson to the Big 12 being signed, sealed and delivered have been exaggerated. There is almost nothing being reported by reputable outlets that indicates such a development.
If you go back and study what Texas A&M and Missouri officials were saying before their move to the SEC became official, it's not exactly shocking to conceive of other schools flatly denying pursuit of other conferences.
But just the same, what were Florida State and Clemson saying last August in the wake of Gottlieb's so-called bombshell?
Pretty much the same things they're saying now, though Florida State's president stopped short of slamming the SEC's academics.
"From coach to (athletic director) to president and the board chair (trustees), there has been no discussion," Florida State president Eric Barron told The Associated Press last August. "I feel quite certain if any of those individuals had any discussions, including me, we would have shared it with each other."
At the same time, Clemson president Jim Barker released a statement.
"We are committed to the ACC. We have had no contact with the SEC."
Barker hasn't released a statement this time around, but then again ESPN hasn't reported Clemson to another conference is a done deal this time around. Wouldn't shock me to see him release a similar statement at some point soon with with Big 12 hysteria so thick, but who knows.
A few Tuesday links:
-- Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com checks in from the ACC meetings in Amelia Island, Fla.
McMurphy's piece is not as notable for its mention of a Tweet from some grubby TI staffer as for the description of sentiment from the Big 12:
What's that mean for Florida State? The Big 12 may -- or may not -- be interested in expanding.
New commissioner Bob Bowlsby doesn't even officially start until next month and the reality is any candidate the Big 12 would pursue (Florida State, Louisville, etc.) has no other options. So the Big 12 can sit back and wait to see how the new 2014 playoff revenue is divvied up among the conferences before deciding who, if anyone, they want to add.
And, oh by the way, the Big 12 is very satisfied with its current 10-member makeup.
"The Big 12 is literally on the fence as far as expansion," an industry source said. "One day, they're like 'Let's expand.' The next day, it's 'No, let's not.' There's no reason for them to expand except if there are some compelling reasons."
-- For my money, Andy Staples of SI might be the best at getting to the essence of a complicated issue. And does an excellent job of it in this column.
-- Matt Hayes of The Sporting News with a scathing appraisal of Florida State's place in the college football food chain.
Forget about money for a moment. Forget about brands and television markets and geographical footprints.
Forget about rumors and speculation, and non-denial denials and multiple voices saying multiple things, and just focus on this:
The pig gets slaughtered.
We’re missing the point on this whole Florida State to the Big 12 story, a whirlwind weekend of FSU officials who can’t get their stories straight. There’s something critical we’re all overlooking while rummaging through pure speculation.
FSU leaving the ACC for the Big 12 means FSU—all together, now—will actually play in the Big 12.
I know, the obvious statement sounds a little loony, but someone has to stand up and knock some sense into the folks from Tallahassee. Apparently we’ve all forgotten that the ’Noles built their now diminished football reputation—or as TV execs like to say, brand—on the backs of a conference that put up as much resistance as a bag of cats headed to the river.
And then:
This is about winning and losing.
In the last decade, FSU won ACC titles in 2002, 2003 and 2005. In those three seasons, the Seminoles lost five games, three games and five games and still won the conference championship.
Lose like that in the Big 12, and you’re playing in a meaningless bowl game and eventually beholden to the future whims of conference bully Texas.
Fourteen straight years of national dominance by FSU has been followed by 11 years of irrelevance. That’s not an anomaly and it’s not cyclical. It’s a program that has reinvented itself by assimilating into its surroundings.
Now a bunch of cash is suddenly going to make everything better? Go ahead and get fat and happy by feeding at the Big 12 trough, FSU.
The slaughter is coming.
Um, like, ouch?
LW
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