The six top ACC expansion candidates if Florida State and others leave

The ACC may be in the market to add new programs if Florida State and other schools leave the conference

If you thought conference realignment was done prior to the 2023 season, you are in for quite a surprise.

Despite the conference adding Stanford, Cal, and SMU and changing up the payouts, Florida State is doing everything in its power to get out of dodge, aka the ACC. They aren't expected to be the only ones either. If/when they do find a way out of their conference, there will be a whole other wave of schools moving to new conferences as projected by On3's Andy Staples, with the SEC and Big Ten looking like the likely landing spots.

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If you are the ACC and want a chance at survival, it is important to maintain all of the members they currently have, and also be able to add some if programs like Florida State, Clemson, and North Carolina leave. Unlike the Pac-12, they already have a media rights deal in place, and they are well aware that a couple of their powerhouses are planning to leave. If the conference is unable to respond accordingly, it may be a bigger collapse than the Pac-12's.

According to college football media expert, Jim Williams, there are six teams that make the most sense for the ACC to add via expansion. It is worth noting that none of these schools will recreate the brands or markets lost, but it helps the conference. For those who followed along for the Pac-12 expansion saga, programs like San Diego State and SMU for the Pac-12 weren't expected to erase USC and UCLA, and these six are not meant to erase Florida State and the other departing schools either. They will not have more value, but they will have prominent markets or some success in football, with basketball being a bonus. They are necessary additions if they have any chance at remaining a Power 4 conference, so let's dive in!

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Memphis

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Memphis has been a very consistent football program over the last decade with four 10+ win seasons. They also happen to be a premier brand in the college basketball scene, which is an added bonus considering Florida State is not that. While they aren't North Carolina, they would be a great addition to the basketball-heavy ACC. Academically they aren't the most prestigious institution, but academics may not have as much of a priority in college sports anymore.

Washington State

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Washington State and Oregon State both were left behind in this past year's wave of realignment. They badly want to be back in a Power conference, and they have had some success on the football field in recent years. Unfortunately for them, and this is likely why they were left out the first time, their markets aren't the most appealing. They would however make it easier for travel if the conference wanted to pair up the schools out West with SMU to form some sort of division that would equate to less coast-to-coast travel.

Oregon State

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The Beavers are in a similar situation as Washington State in terms of their market not being that valuable to the ACC. They do however have three strong seasons over the past three years. Their best interest at the moment may be to rebuild the Pac-12 considering they and Washington State have a war chest of funds.

USF

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If the ACC wants to add a second school in the state of Florida after Florida State's departure or even have one school in the state if Miami leaves as well, USF is the perfect candidate. They are in a massive market down there in Tampa, and both their football and basketball programs are trending in the right direction. They are also investing a lot in their football program, which may be partially to stand out more for realignment purposes as well as showing how bought-in they are. They have been tabbed by many as the top candidate to be the next Group of Five program to make the jump. 

UConn

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UConn was at one point linked to the Big 12, but those talks have gone quiet as of late. There may not be a reason for them to leave their current situation, but they would add another one of the biggest basketball brands to the ACC which has had success in both men's and women's. Football-wise they don't add much, but their basketball successes may make that something the ACC is willing to deal with.

Tulane

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The ACC is currently based out of North Carolina, and they do pretty much everything there. Tulane not only brings a football program with two 11+ win seasons in the past couple of years, but they bring New Orleans as well. It would give the conference another option to host events, and one that isn't as far from the new additions. Tulane was a program that could have been considered for Pac-12 expansion had they looked into spreading further across the country, but that never seemed to be the case.