Pittsburgh and Syracuse are heading to the ACC in a huge exodus from the Big East Conference. News came out on Saturday that both schools had applied to be accepted into the ACC, and early Sunday morning it was leaked that the two schools had also been accepted into the new conference.
According to ESPN, the ACC presidents voted on Saturday morning to accept Syracuse and Pittsburgh into the league. The articles also states that the ACC is considering adding two other East Coast schools to really flesh out the conference. The two names at the top of that list appear to be Connecticut and Rutgers. Both of those schools are in the Big East Conference for football.
If this mass exodus takes place, only West Virginia, South Florida, Cincinnati and Louisville will be left playing Big East football. That revelation likely means the conference is coming to an end, and there might not be a Big East any longer. With no television contract after the current season, there is suddenly a big way for schools to bolt and make more money as part of a conglomerate in the ACC.
Some of the notable schools in the ACC right now are Florida State, Virginia Tech, Miami and Clemson, and the addition of four schools would push that conference to 16 total teams. Two would likely join the Atlantic division and two would join the Coastal division, presenting even more competition (and money) for all of the schools involved.
One school that has a lot of questions right now is TCU, which will be joining the Big East for the 2012 football season. With schools bailing now though, there might not be a conference to join anymore. If the Big 12 does fold though, with school like Oklahoma and Texas heading to the Pac-12 Conference, there is a chance that the leftover schools could join with the remaining Big East to form an entirely new conference.
The college football landscape is going to be very interesting at the end of the 2011 season, and with all of the potential moves at the end of the year, there could be four power conferences left standing from this mess. With projections taking place, there could end up being 16 Pac-12 teams, 14 SEC teams, 16 ACC teams, and 14 Big Ten teams that control the world of college football. This could certainly lead to the end of the Bowl Championship Series as it is currently known.