As the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act moves to a vote next month in the U.S. Senate, the game of musical chairs among the major and not-so-major conferences is heating up again.
The Athletic, a pay site, took a stab at guessing what realignment will look like, with senior writer Matt Baker (formerly of the Tampa Bay Times) presenting what he believes four power conferences with 19 teams apiece will look like.
The good news for USF fans is that, if Baker is correct, the Bulls will bid the American Conference adieu and land in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"The conference stressed the academic value of Cal, Stanford and SMU when they joined, so that’s a guiding principle. The conference also puts a greater premium on broad-based athletic success than mere football might," he wrote.
"The Bulls, like Miami, earned AAU membership in 2023. They’re finally serious about sports, spending more than $300 million on a new on-campus football stadium that will open next year and funding one of the biggest G6 player payrolls. But USF has never won a conference title in football and has traditionally struggled in men’s basketball."
That last sentence is maybe so, but the Bulls have won two of the last three regular-season men's basketball conference titles and in March pushed Louisville to the wire in the NCAA tournament. New head coach Chris Mack is a home-run hire, so -- you know what line is coming -- this ain't the same old South Florida.
And as far as placing emphasis on more than just football, we should note that the USF women's basketball team beat Duke twice in the last two seasons.
I always believed the Bulls had more in common with the ACC than the Big 12. USF has played a lot of ACC teams over the years in many different sports, They are 25-33 lifetime in football against teams currently in the ACC -- Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, N.,C. State, Pitt, and Syracuse.
Geographically it makes more sense, too. And in a bonus, Baker projects Florida State will stay in the ACC, so USF fills the hole with Miami's departure and keeps two Florida teams in the conference.
Baker noted that in his opinion, Tulane would join USF in leaving the American.
He wrote, "Tulane checks the ACC-specific boxes to earn one seat. American colleague USF joins, too, preferring the ACC to a War on I-4 reunion with UCF in the Big 12."
The War could still exist in this scenario, as UCF would have no more reason to duck a fellow power conference school and Florida neighbor. But let's not get ahead of things.
Now, we have to ask ourselves, how many spots will the ACC have open?
Baker estimates at least two and as many as five. He includes UConn as a potential member of the ACC.
In his realignment, North Carolina, Miami, and Virginia go to the SEC. He has Notre Dame finally telling Rudy to take a seat and going to the Big Ten.
He also projects Memphis will join Boise State and San Diego State in the Big 12.
How much of the above predictions will actually come true?
I'm not too sure about Notre Dame to the Big Ten; the Irish are historically stubborn.
But it's logical to assume the power conferences are planning for what appears to be the inevitable volcanic change coming to college athletics.
And this time, USF is ready for its closeup.
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