Conference realignment rumors: Big Ten eyeing 2 SEC targets in Florida
The next piece of conference realignment news that comes from the college sports world could involve the Big Ten, who accepted applications from USC and UCLA at the end of June to join the conference in 2024, stealing away two schools in Florida the SEC could also be targeting.
According to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, Florida State and Miami join four schools from the bare bones of the Pac-12 (Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Cal) looking to become part of a burgeoning Big Ten super-conference.
Big Ten commish Kevin Warren told @ActionNetworkHQ there are "handful of schools" besides Notre Dame that would add value to Big Ten. Sources said other schools being considered by Big Ten: Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Cal, Miami & Florida State https://t.co/nO3heAEHJP
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 26, 2022
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren made it clear during 2022 Big Ten football media days that expansion is still very much on the table for his conference:
"“I get asked every single day, what’s next? It may include future expansion, but it will be done for the right reasons, at the right time, with our student-athletes’ academic and athletic empowerment at the center of any and all decisions that we will make.”"
Clemson, Florida State, and Miami are all among the favorites to be the next school to accept an SEC invitation
Absent from McMurphy’s list of schools said to be interested in the Big Ten is Clemson who, along with Florida State, owns the best odds to be the next school to accept an invitation to join the SEC in conference realignment.
Miami is slightly behind those schools, but the key to ‘The U’ and FSU joining the SEC is Florida. The Gators could serve as a Texas A&M-like roadblock to either just as the Aggies did to Texas for so long before finally budging last summer.