Rumor: Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, and Syracuse could be 'fired' from the ACC

Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, and Syracuse could all be "fired" from the ACC according to Mike Farrell Sports' Rock Westfall, who was deferring to a report from Pete Cordelli during an appearance on The Bill King Show in Nashville that the top teams from the ACC can see funds opened up due to the bottom-tier teams being cut from the conference.

"Instead of losing Florida State and Clemson, the ACC would potentially fire programs such as Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, and Syracuse, which are either not serious football schools or simply not able to generate enough revenue to compete legitimately with power brands," Westfall wrote.

This refrain was one shared by Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard, though he wasn't talking about the ACC.

SEC and Big Ten can also get rid of lower-tier teams in the future

Pollard spoke on the SEC and the Big Ten essentially "firing" teams like Vanderbilt and Northwestern while speaking to reporters on May 9.

"You just have to look at the evolution," Pollard prefaced before saying, "It isn't the SEC and Big Ten. It's those that have all the gold make all the rules. Right? So if I was a member of the Big Ten or the SEC, I’d start looking over my shoulder and wondering if, when is the day going to come when the top of the SEC is not going to want the bottom of the SEC."

The ACC may trim the fat to merely survive, but the SEC and Big Ten would be trimming the fat for profit purposes. Then again, would those teams be trimmed if there aren't new schools, like FSU, Clemson, UNC, UVA, Louisville, and Miami aren't available to replace them?

Who knows. But Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, and Syracuse better start thinking of alternatives to ACC membership soon if Westfall and Cordelli are to be believed.