FSU and Clemson were predicted by longtime college football radio host Greg Swaim to join the SEC on July 12 after failing to receive an invite from the Big Ten due to a lack of AAU accreditation.
"ACC schools that have a choice will take a B1G offer, obviously as they pay more," Swaim prefaced before saying, "And those that get an SEC offer will take it over the Big 12. If your school is not yet AAU accredited you won't be getting a B1G offer, regardless of what you've been told about your school's R1 research or academic ranking.
"With well over half of the current vetted Big Ten schools adamantly against non AAU accredited schools (they're still very mad at the Huskers for losing their accreditation after joining). FSU and Clemson will announce they are leaving the ACC (we're hearing July 12th, give or take a few days), and will both take an SEC invite. However, this will open up the entire ACC, as they'll all be scrambling for a lifeboat in the SEC or Big 12, with some current ACC schools who are already AAU accredited possibly getting a B1G invite."
Other college football insider believes SEC won't have interest in FSU and Clemson
College football insider Brett McMurphy and Swaim are dramatically disconnected on what direction the next round of conference realignment will go when FSU and Clemson inevitably leave the ACC; possibly causing a full-blown exodus from several other top revenue producers in the conference.
McMurphy told Paul Finebaum that the SEC won't have interest in the Noles and Tigers and would instead target schools from the state of North Carolina and the Commonwealth of Virginia to expand into untapped markets.
"...as soon as they do reach a settlement and there is a number established for Florida State and Clemson to exit, then that opens the door for other schools to leave," McMurphy said (h/t On3). "The North Carolina schools, the Virginia schools. Certainly the SEC would have interest. I don’t think they have interest in Florida State or Clemson because they’ve already got Florida and South Carolina.”
Someone is going to be right. It all comes down to whether or not the Big Ten would ignore its own requirements to accommodate two southern programs that'd give a facelift to the B1G's current culture.