Sprints Will Allow Clemson in Over Its Cold, Dead Body // 09.20.11

…That’s not to say that the writer for the Cincinnati site was wrong, but that his source might have been mistaken, or engaged in wishful thinking….

Hehe, I wonder if the source was this guy

I’m sure Nebraska and Colorado already regret their decision to abandon a conference that might not even exist by this time next week.

And he does realize that if Mizzou leaves then that only leaves 4 right?

And would be a terrible idea, and die sooner than later like the old 16 team superWAC.

Nebraska opposed equal revenue sharing in the BIg 12; Harvey Perlman said as much in 2007. But the B1G has (you guessed it) equal revenue sharing. Looks a bit hypocritical. While I don’t know enough of the conference voting history to say whether Nebraska was ignored or not, I do know many Nebraska fans claim that Nebraska was on the losing side “of too many 11-1 votes”. What they don’t mention were that half of these votes had to deal with issues that favored the way Nebraska conducted business like partial qualifiers (for example). I think Nebraska had as much to do with alienating itself – they are still complaining about biased officiating, even now – as any of the other conference members did.

This is in Waco too.

On the argument against bringing an in-state rival into the conference with something more detailed than “it’s a recruiting edge?” That seems to ignore the fact (or at least dismiss) that the SEC already has three states with two conference members. I don’t really have a dog in the hunt, since I’m hoping that Wf’nV is #14, but I just haven’t seen anything other than blanket statements against Clemson, FSU, and GT.

I wouldn’t mind Tech coming into the SEC, but I think Clemson is a better fit and better for the conference. I mean, sure, it’s like getting another Auburn, but it is better than Tech or WV.

South Carolina has been a beast since they joined. Any attempt should be made to cut into their machine of death and sadness.

I mean, South Carolina has won a massive 2 games in a row against Georgia, and has won 3 out of the last 10!

Will the terror never stop?

And as malicious as that attitude is from Texas, at least Texas could claim they were the unquestioned big dog of their side of the conference. Georgia’s not Florida, and the Gators do not hesitate to remind you of that annually.

FSU isn’t coming. If UGA objects to GT, GT isn’t coming. If SC objects to Clemson…Clemson might still come.

I don’t like it, but these things are largely run by old men and Good ‘Ol Boys, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they still think of SC as a junior member.

I don’t think that Clemson joining would be as damaging to SC as Gamecock fans think it would be, but they should have the right to veto this move. I don’t know if they actually do, however.

As for why I don’t think it’d be as bad as they think: if Clemson can’t win the ACC, what makes you think they’d find life any easier in the SEC? The recruiting math would change, but in terms of actually winning on the field, isn’t the road to Atlanta harder for SC with FSU in the East? The way SC has built up their program, I don’t think they’ll ever truly be under Clemson’s boot again, even if Clemson joined the SEC. FSU in the SEC has the potential to be an absolute monster (as someone who knows more about FSU than I want to know, I’ll say that there is very little that UF has that FSU doesn’t. So, worst case scenario for SC is that instead of one Florida in the East, there are two Floridas to get around every year).

In terms of the mind boggling free for all maze that is recruiting in the state of Florida, FSU actually might be above UF. Florida recruits nationally, in large part (historically) because large sections of the state of Florida have been solidly Seminole (or Cane), and UF has had a hell of a time invading those areas. Harvin came from Virginia, Aaron Hernandez was from Connecticut, Spikes from North Carolina, Joe Haden from Maryland, etc. On paper that makes UF look like an Eastern USCw that just goes wherever to pull whomever they want, but believe me, UF has lost countless in-state prospects to FSU over the years. Far more than you would probably imagine.

FSU in the SEC is a scary prospect. Florida will always get theirs, but this is a zero sum game, and SC would be a prime target to get cut up in an SEC East with another superpower.

“That was some of the best [arguing against Clemson’s admission into the SEC] I’ve seen yet, right up to the part where you got killed.”

Just from the comments in this space, C&F, it seems like your rhetorical argument fell apart as soon as you brought T. Kyle King’s ulterior motives into the picture. At that point it feels like everyone ejected from their brain whatever cogent points you had made and took to sniping at each other. The sad part is, I think you really pretty convincing up until that point. If I could chime in:

Yes, adding Clemson to the SEC may impact UGA’s recruiting as well as USC’s, but C&F is correct in asserting that the addition of a school within your state is an entirely different animal than adding one right across the border. When young’ins are born in this region, they pick sides. You hear about Clemson/ South Carolina, Georgia/ GT, Alabama/ Auburn, and so on. You don’t hear about people having to pick between UGA and Clemson — at least not in the majority of cases. Whatever their arbitrariness, the location of those state lines makes a difference.

We have rivals from the same state in the conference now, but when the SEC was formed the college football financial landscape was completely different. Does anyone really think that Alabama would welcome Auburn into the SEC in 2011? I doubt it.

Secondly, South Carolina fans don’t want Clemson in the SEC. We endured a string of humiliating years on the gridiron (as so many of you kindly pointed out), and now that we finally have the upper hand on Clemson we don’t want our progress ripped out from under us. Maybe having Clemson in the division would give USC a better shot at a championship than having FSU, but that’s not our only concern. I wouldn’t expect UGA fans, who have had a strangle hold over their in-state rival since I was born, to identify with this sentiment, but I would expect y’all to be able to understand where we are coming from. I don’t see why visceral appeals should carry no weight with the Dawg Sports community since I’ve seen T. Kyle King proclaim multiple times that Ga. Tech shouldn’t be considered for inclusion in the SEC simply because “they had their chance and they left us.”

Thirdly, and most importantly, Clemson brings nothing to the conference in terms of financial leverage. The Gamecocks already have the state pretty well-covered, and it’s a state that ranks near the bottom of the Union in terms of population. Should we add Clemson to cut into that coveted Anderson market? It would make more sense to woo a team from North Carolina so that the SEC would have a presence in Charlotte. If you ever ever lived above the North Carolina/ South Carolina border then you know it is virtually impossible to get any local SEC media coverage. I don’t see what Clemson brings to the SEC other than an historical (for 10 years?) rivalry with UGA. We already have an Auburn.