ACC reacts to the potential addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC
Posted July 22, 2021 5:57 p.m. EDT
Charlotte, N.C. — When the news broke Wednesday night that Texas and Oklahoma were looking into leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, most people stared at their phones in disbelief, reading through their various social media timelines to get more information as to what was going on.
And the ACC athletes and coaches weren't much different.
"I honestly just saw it last night and I didn't know if it was real or not, but I guess it might be," NC State quarterback Devin Leary said.
"That is big. It's crazy," Syracuse wide receiver Taj Harris said. "I was just scrolling on my timeline and I think I saw that but I didn't think it was real."
Obviously, though, most of the athletes playing in today's ACC likely won't be around when and if the SEC turns from a super conference into a super-super conference.
So right now, most have bigger things to worry about.
"I just try to pay as much attention as I can to our team and what we've got going on and what's going on in the ACC, but that is definitely something to look into," Harris said.
Not every college football player is a college football fan per se, but NC State linebacker Payton Wilson always has been.
He's pretty excited about the potential super league.
"I grew up a huge college football fan," Wilson said. "Oklahoma and teams like Texas, they were like the big, traditional schools. Them going to the SEC, you don't see Oklahoma and Alabama play during the regular season.
"You don't see teams like that play. I think it's going to be an awesome deal and it's going to bring a lot of competition to the SEC."
Wilson would be fine with adding any team, should the ACC do that — even Notre Dame.
"I'm the type of player, I want to play the best every single game. I'm not looking for an easy game so if I was in the SEC I would tell them to come on," Wilson said. "I would love to play Notre Dame.
"They kind of came into the ACC last year and the ACC showed them a lot more love than they should have gotten, but I would love for them to be in the ACC and actually play us."
Notre Dame is not likely to give up its football independence unless it has to, but the potential move of two of college football's biggest powers to an already all-powerful conference could cause the landscape to shift seismically.
Syracuse defensive lineman Josh Black recognized that.
"I don't really know how to feel about them joining the SEC. It could create a weird effect throughout the other conferences too. It could help out a lot or it could make everything weird, awkward and cause scheduling conflicts and chaos," Black said. "But it'll be interesting to see.
"I wouldn't be opposed to watching it for one year and seeing what happens after that. If it has negative effects, then we've got to figure out something for that."
It's a little early in the process for the coaches to have much of an opinion, but Syracuse head coach Dino Babers — who used to coach at Baylor in the Big 12 — was having trouble wrapping his mind around it.
"I don't know what's going on with that. I used to be in the Big 12 when I was at Baylor. Texas and Oklahoma not being in the Big 12? I'm not sure I'm going to be around when I see that one happen," Babers said. "I may be looking down on it instead of being here and looking at it. I'm sure those guys, that's something that they need to figure out and everything will come back to normal soon."
In an offseason where major changes have either already happened or are being discussed to the entire collegiate sports model, some college coaches just decided it was not quite in their purview to comment on it.
"I'm going to stay in my lane," Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said. "I don't think the SEC, Oklahoma or Texas really care what the Wake Forest coach thinks about their expansion."
