USF has made no secret about its desire to upgrade from the American Conference and gain a seat at the grownups table. But after seeing the way the "grownups" have behaved over the last several days, would joining one of those big-boy leagues really be the promised land Bulls Nation believes it would be?
It started with the Big Ten (which has 18 schools) aggressively pushing for an expansion of the College Football Playoff to 24 teams. The Big 12 (with its 16 teams) and the ACC (Clemson and Florida State are still there, right?) quckly endorsed the idea.
The motive? C'mon, get serious. Visions of expanded playoff dollars were dancing in their collective heads. Never mind that the championship game would be the 17th contest of the season for the two teams that get that far.
SEC Commissioner Craig Sankey balked, holding firm to the idea of no more than 16 teams in the playoffs. And out of that discussion came this preposterous, testosterone-flexing "threat" by Georgia coach Kirby Smart that the SEC might leave the NCAA completely and stage its own 16-team playoff and govern itself.
“I’ve said this for a long time to our president,” Smart said via ESPN. “I’ve been a huge advocate that if we can’t find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play our own. I’m not afraid of that. I’m not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out and play.”
Yes, because the sporting world can't get enough of Misissippi State vs. Arkansas.
But it's not just the SEC making this threat. The Big Ten has floated that idea too -- perhaps to the point of joining the SEC as a so-called "super conference."
That prompted this pithy response from Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard.
“Let them break away,” Pollard said. “We should break away from them.”
He added, "“Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports & see how fun it is to play baseball, softball and track when it’s just the 20 of you. That’s what I think we should do, but I’m one person & that’s probably a little more draconian. That’s how I feel about it. Like, let’s quit talking about it. Quit threatening. Go do it. But if you’re going to do it, you don’t get to just do it in football & then keep all your other sports w/us. No, take them all. See how fun it is.”
Pollard makes a great point. These threats and hissy fits are getting old as these two conferences compete to see which one is the most arrogant.
Besides, whether there are 24 teams in the playoff or 16 is of little consequence at the moment to USF. As long as the Bulls are in the American, they will compete with the other Group of Whatever programs for the one spot the power conferences will graciously grant them.
Eventually, the power schools may even try to take that away and force the Group schools to form their own playoff.
As far as breaking away and forming a super league, who gets to be the alpha dog?
The Big Ten has won the past three national titles in football and is 4-0 against the SEC over the past three seasons in head-to-head College Football Playoff matchups. But Sankey dismisses that with a hand wave and insists his league still "stands alone."
Junk like this is why college athletics -- particularly football -- is a jumbled mess. Leaders of the Power 2 conferences each believe they alone should set the agenda for everyone else, especially schools like USF.
The SEC gave us Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss high and dry. It gave us the Jaden Rashada debacle where the 5-star quarterback's reported $13.8 million NIL agreement with a booster collective collapsed. There was the case of linebacker Luke Ferrelli, who transferred from California, enrolled at Clemson, then shortly after that transferred again to Ole Miss.
And maybe Kirby Smart should clean his own house before he throws stones at other schools. Since 2023, more than 20 people associated with Georgia's football program have been arrested for driving violations.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney accused Rebels coach Pete Golding of tampering and the NCAA is investigating.
Michigan fired head football coach Sherron Moore last December for an "inappropriate relationship" with a staff member. A Michigan football staffer named Connor Stallons was fired after his scheme to clandestinely decode signals by opposing teams was discovered. Michigan tried to impede the investigation and was fined more than $30 million.
See a pattern here?
We can, and should, continue to tout what USF is doing. We should stress the positives the Bulls can bring to a power conference that chooses to invite them.
But with the SEC and Big Ten acting like spoiled brats who owe nothing to other programs outside their respective leagues, who can say with any certainty what the landscape will look like when and if that time comes.
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