The New York Times is reporting that Pitt and Syracuse "are engaged in talks about joining the Atlantic Coast Conference". Syracuse, if you remember, was on the wish list the last time the ACC expanded, though it obviously didn't end up making it in. The conference and the two schools issued standard no comments.

No other information is out there, so it's unknown whether the ACC is looking to be a 14-team league like the SEC (A&M plus one) and Pac-12 (plus the Oklahoma schools) are supposedly on the way to becoming or if this is some sort of preliminary stage for accepting Texas and Texas Tech later. There also is the possibility the conference is worried about losing one or more schools to the SEC, but again, no other information is out there yet.

UPDATE

CBS's Brett McMurphy is reporting that a high ranking ACC official told him that Pitt and Syracuse have officially submitted applications to join the league. Also, he was told the conference's presidents unanimously agreed to raise the league's exit fee to $20 million at a meeting in Greensboro, NC last week.