CFB analyst discloses potential reasons behind SMU's desperate attempts to join ACC in the latest conference realignment wave
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has been in the news lately by adding the California Golden Bears, Stanford Cardinal, and SMU Mustangs beginning in the 2024 college football season.
There has been a lot of discourse surrounding the ability of these teams to be in a Power Five conference in the future.
ESPN staff writer Dave Wilson wrote a piece about how SMU believes this is the first step into becoming a major power once again.
The program will receive a 30% share of ACC payouts for a handful of years before eventually becoming a full member down the road. However, there is the ability to still make money with the distribution of NCAA tournament and College Football Playoff revenue if the team makes it.
While interviewing SMU's chairman of the board of trustees, David Miller, he did not go through the minute details but discussed how this is a massive positive for the university.
"I'm going to leave some mystery around all that. I don't think it's as simple as people want to make it out to be. You can't forgo something you don't have. We;'re not going to take a step back resource-wise, even from a conference prospective. So this is all positive. ... We've got an underdog mentality. We've got a chip on our shoulder. We've had to do more with less for a long time."
He continued discussing how they have been good at recruiting and how being a Power Five team in the ACC will make them even more dominant in the future.
"I don't think it would be a stretch to say that there's some people out there that weren't excited about the notion that SMU was going to be uplifted back to Power 5 status. Think about what it's going to do for our recruiting. We already recruit extremely well. The only thing that anybody could ever use against us in a recruiting battle is the fact that we're not Power 5." H/t ESPN
The ACC could have a lot of shifting throughout the conference in the future, but for right now, this will be incredible for the SMU Mustangs return to glory since the death penalty.
Does adding the SMU Mustangs help the ACC thrive?
In short, yes. The ACC will be getting a team with an interesting history surrounding it. However, something arguably more important is the fact that they have a footprint in a hotbed of college football: Texas.
Getting them at a reduced price is also something that has to be applauded, as they have not been getting full shares for a handful of years. The addition of this trio of universities helps the conference not have to worry about a renegotiation clause in the media rights deal as well.
While this move seems to be a negative for the future, the addition of the SMU Mustangs could be a massive benefit very soon.