Will the Clemson Tigers, winner of two of the last four national championships in football, bolt from the ACC to the SEC if the conference does not have football this fall? Many questions remain in college athletics.

Clemson football photo against Miami in 2019

Photo: Clemson

… Clemson and SEC would fit, could care less about basketball

The only definite aspect of college athletics right now is that nothing is definite. However, what athletics administrators and coaches know is that without the money made from college football, many conferences and schools could not continue to exist. 

With that in mind, the reality of whether or not college football will take place is focused on whether or not the universities and colleges will open their campuses to students in the fall, and that is the tricky aspect of this. It is being driven by the health of the students, not by whether or not football should take place. 

The difficult part of this for most of the colleges and universities is that they must retain students — without students, the schools will fail to exist. 

That is difficult for football fans to accept, but it is reality. 

Which brings me to the idea of Clemson, which has been on the radar for the Southeastern Conference [SEC] for more than a decade, before they had won three national titles in three years — and were a runner-up last year.

The Tigers have dethroned the Alabama Crimson Tide as the premiere college football program, with the help of the LSU Tigers, something that the Tide wants to change this year. 

So, the SEC rumor mill has posited that Clemson will bolt the ACC if many of the schools, like the northern ones like Boston College, Syracuse, and even Pitt, along with the ones with sterling academic credentials, like Duke and North Carolina-Chapel Hill, decide to not field football this fall. 

Duke has already said that it will not decide upon students on campus until late July, and if they decide to go to an online semester, then that would complicate matters for the entire conference. 

Most are planning for a 12-game season

The conference that appears to be going head-first into football regardless of what happens is the SEC. Already, 13 of the 14 schools have indicated that they will have students on campus, which makes football more likely. 

Clemson is still planning for its season, but it has a number of possibilities on the table, such as playing teams from the SEC. In April, the Tigers were expressing hope for a full season, with provisos,

First of all, as the conference commissioners indicated on Wednesday to Vice President Mike Pence, there will be no football if the campuses cannot not re-open in the fall. Most universities, including Clemson, have closed their campus through the summer. Students are getting their course work done through e-learning.

However, Clemson is planning for a number of possibilities, including having classes and playing football in the fall. It is planning for its campus to open and for the football program to be playing its Sept. 3 opener at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

“We are just moving along, right now, that we are going to play and that we are going to play on time,” Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said to Mickey Plyler on The Roar, 105.5 FM in Clemson earlier this week. “We are just trying to make every contingency possible for things that may move a little left or right of that goal.”

Robert MacRae and Will Vandervort, “Could Clemson play football this fall if 
other ACC schools aren’t ready to?” The Clemson Insider, April 17, 2020

According to the Insider, Clemson was looking at four alternatives: First, start the season on time; second, start later in the fall, perhaps in October, week five; third, move the season to next spring; and fourth, deal with a situation in which some ACC schools choose to not have football, but others will field teams. 

Geographical divisions complicating matters

In a national analysis done by the Los Angeles Times of the Power 5 conferences 10 days ago, the uncertainty of the spread of the virus was clear, with geographical concerns a major problem,

With the state-by-state response to the novel coronavirus dividing the country more by the day, the Power Five commissioners are attempting a seemingly ridiculous task: align the actions of the 130-team Football Bowl Subdivision, made up of schools from 42 states.

“There’s a lot of unique pressures, and there’s different cultures throughout the country, and different cultures result in different public policy sometimes, and different pressure on commissioners,” [Pac-12 Commissioner Larry] Scott said. “But we all need each other to play a full college football season.”

Despite the uncertainty that is sure to hover over higher education for many months — even in the South, presidents understand the virus’ behavior in the next six to eight weeks will ultimately decide their plans for the fall — the Power Five leagues are preparing for a full 12-week schedule that, as ever, leads into the College Football Playoff.

To pull it off, Scott said it’s key that the commissioners are “locked at the hip.” 

J. Brady McCollough, “ ‘We need each other’: Inside college football’s 

plan to play on versus COVID-19,” L.A. Times, May 15, 2020

However, having them “locked at the hip” is contingent upon what the presidents and boards of trustees of the universities say must be done, and that is often contingent upon medical advisories. Both the presidents and A.D.’s and coaches would love to have students on all campuses and stadiums filled with fans. 

I wrote about the Big Ten’s concerns about that earlier this week, and those are complex.

ACC geographical concerns

The problems in different areas of the country make the situation a concern, especially for conferences like the ACC which has schools from New York to Florida. 

As the Clemson Insider noted in April, this problem was evident from the outset of the problem,

It is possible schools such as Boston College and Syracuse, where the COVID-19 pandemic is more prevalent in their region of the country, will not be able to play football this fall. However, schools like Clemson and other ACC members will be able to.

What does Clemson do if BC, Syracuse, or other ACC schools cannot play because their governors have not re-opened their states?

TCI was told Clemson has spitballed a couple of ideas just in case there is such a scenario where this occurs. Now keep in mind, this is not something they are planning right now. This is a back-burner idea, but it has come up in conversations as a “what if scenario” if everything else fails and Clemson and other universities in the South have re-opened their campuses in the fall.

In these conversations, a lot of things are being thrown around, but one idea is having a football season where Clemson would play a schedule that would involve playing other teams from other conferences, such as from the SEC for example.

Robert MacRae and Will Vandervort, “Could Clemson play football this fall if
other ACC schools aren’t ready to?” The Clemson Insider, April 17, 2020

Could the NCAA allow teams from other conferences to join for this season?

Clemson will not bolt for the SEC — at least right now. It has discussed that option and has rejected it every time. However, the truth is that the ACC could be called “The Big 1” since no other team has even come close to challenging for a national title for years. 

This geographical issue was discussed on another Clemson website, 

It is possible schools such as Boston College and Syracuse, where the COVID-19 pandemic is more prevalent in their region of the country, will not be able to play football this fall. However, schools like Clemson and other ACC members will be able to.

What does Clemson do if BC, Syracuse, or other ACC schools cannot play because their governors have not re-opened their states?

TCI was told Clemson has spitballed a couple of ideas just in case there is such a scenario where this occurs. Now keep in mind, this is not something they are planning right now. This is a back-burner idea, but it has come up in conversations as a “what if scenario” if everything else fails and Clemson and other universities in the South have re-opened their campuses in the fall.

In these conversations, a lot of things are being thrown around, but one idea is having a football season where Clemson would play a schedule that would involve playing other teams from other conferences, such as from the SEC for example.

Shawn Spencer, “Clemson football: What if Tigers played only 

regional games during 2020?” Rubbing the Rock, May 2020

Some will play, not all

A major re-alignment of the ACC is likely. The cost of sending a Boston College baseball team or track and field squad to Miami or Florida State does not make sense. Perhaps Boston College, Syracuse and Pitt would align itself with the Big East schools, at least in the non-revenue sports. 

Who knows? I am just throwing ideas out there from what I read and think. No one is certain, but the fact that the University of Connecticut, which has been a dominant force in men’s and women’s basketball in the 21st Century, has apparently decided to but 1/3 of its sports is one indication of what schools are considering right now. 

The bottom line is that some football will take place this fall, but probably not all schools will participate. Schools in the North and West are most likely to change their alignments. 

Here is where we need direction from the NCAA, but are receiving nothing of significance.