Florida State Brings Us Right Back to the Realignment Spectacle, And For Once, It Makes Sense

Florida State to the Big 12 is the latest realignment rumor and this time, it makes a whole lot of sense

1, 2, realignment's coming for you... 3, 4, better lock the door...

It's baaaaack. The craze that has swept the college football nation for the last two-to-three years is rearing its ugly head again. If you haven't already gotten yourself attached, now might be an opportune time to do it. This is about to go for another wild ride that is picking up steam more and more by the day. 

In case you have not already heard, here's the specifics: there have rumors flying by the bunches over the last few weeks that have been hooking Florida State University and the Big 12 Conference up for a possible realignment shift. It would be one of the latest moves that the conference has made as they added West Virginia and TCU this offseason, while at the same time, losing Texas A&M and Missouri. Last week though, it seemed like all of that was nonsense, as FSU's athletic director Randy Spetman told the Orlando Sentinel that the school was committed to staying in the Atlantic Coast Conference which just signed a mega-deal with ESPN. 

In the words of Lee Corso: NOT so fast my friend.

The Florida State University Board of Trustees Chairman Andy Haggard told Warchant.com that Florida State was very unhappy with the new television deal that the ACC signed up with ESPN for and said that the school and essentially said that Florida State would be crazy to not consider the offer. Jimbo Fisher, head coach for the Florida State Seminoles football team added to the Orlando Sentinel, "If that [jumping to the Big 12] is is what's best for Florida State, that's what we need to do." 

That wasn't all that Florida State had to offer. Today on the Tim Brando Show, former FSU BOT Chairman Derrick Brooks said that the Big 12 has reached out to the university as far as he knows, and that Florida State will listen to anything that the conference has to offer. FSU's AD Randy Spetman came out and said that he did not know where Brooks got that information, but there was no categorical denial in the statement.

FSU AD Randy Spetman on Brooks' comments bout Big 12 contacting FSU: "I don't know where Derrick got that"

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyCBS) May 16, 2012

Of course Spetman said that.

That's always been the case with realignment in its inceptions. A whole lot of smoke, but no fire. The question in my opinion now is, "when does that fire start to burn?" Why is that? That's because Florida State to the Big 12 Conference makes a ton of sense and possibly more than anybody that has gone about this process. 

The Atlantic Coast Conference has shifted gears from a football conference to a basketball conference. In all fairness, I'm not sure that they have ever really excelled in football. Yes, Virginia Tech has been a staying power ever since moving to the Big East (who would have thought that they would be the ones moving from the Big East to be dominant and not the school down in Coral Gables) and yes, Florida State was once a national power and has regained some traction in the last couple of years, but when you think ACC, be honest, what do you think?

Do you think Miami-Florida State football? Or do you think of UNC-Duke basketball?

You know the answer to the question. And you know it's the latter.

So why wouldn't Florida State move to a conference that has made it clear by its moves recently that they wholly 100% give a damn about college football (see: West Virginia and TCU relocating to the Big 12. TCU is not exactly a basketball powerhouse) than be stuck in a mediocre conference that gets nearly no respect and gets shoved to the back of the line every year, and has, as stated before, made it clear where their direction is headed (see: Pittsburgh and Syracuse shifting towards the ACC. I'm sure people are really looking forward to Duke taking on Syracuse in football)? The ACC hasn't produced a National Champion since 1999. Can you guess who the team was? (Hint: If you've read this article, you already know)

This shift would make perfect sense for Florida State. It is not as if having Duke and Virginia in your conference makes your academics better, because I'm sure that FSU graduates don't put "graduated in the same conference as Duke" on their resumes. They aren't pretending to be an Ivy League school, never have, never will, so why should they have their hand forced and be made out to act like one? The ACC's interests are entirely in basketball, and Florida State appears to be getting the shaft by the conference because the conference has locked down all of its value and revenue on the big-time basketball programs in the conference. Even with how consistent they have been over the last few years, they're no Duke, no UNC, no NC State, and eventually, no Syracuse or Pittsburgh. 

So why should they pretend to be one? 

If the offer's there to take Florida State should take it without any hesitation and sprint right out of there and never, ever look back. Because in my opinion, they will come out of it as a better school in a better conference that for once, for once looks like it might retain a desirable amount of stability. The Big 12's revenue will be higher than the ACC's once the new contracts go in by almost $250 million, and from the last few moves we have figured out that all of these realignments echo one mantra:

Money talks.