I know the ACC does not give 2 @#$@#$ about this. But in 2014, ESPN worked overtime to keep FSU out of the CFP with a metric never heard of before......game control......and never used it since.

BEFORE Jordan Travis got hurt, they again started their campaign to keep FSU out of the CFB and after the injury and FSU's win over UF, they are even more aggressive in their efforts.


Here is the issue......the ACC is a partner with ESPN.

With friends like these...who needs enemies. This is one of the cornerstone, foundational weakness of the ACC. I'm just too lazy to type more on this, but this is MASSIVE. This issue alone makes the ACC an inhospital home for any football school when your own TV partner works AGAINST you, let alone be neutral.



Louisville may beat FSU, FSU may win and still get into the CFP......but it's still a problem. A MASSIVE one. The SEC goes to battle it's a gang fight you have to beat their own army pointed in the same direction with the same goal....in the ACC you go to battle...you are alone...hell, you too often have your own team working against you.

(11-26-2023 03:16 PM)nole Wrote:  I know the ACC does not give 2 @#$@#$ about this. But in 2014, ESPN worked overtime to keep FSU out of the CFP with a metric never heard of before......game control......and never used it since.

BEFORE Jordan Travis got hurt, they again started their campaign to keep FSU out of the CFB and after the injury and FSU's win over UF, they are even more aggressive in their efforts.


Here is the issue......the ACC is a partner with ESPN.

With friends like these...who needs enemies. This is one of the cornerstone, foundational weakness of the ACC. I'm just too lazy to type more on this, but this is MASSIVE. This issue alone makes the ACC an inhospital home for any football school when your own TV partner works AGAINST you, let alone be neutral.



Louisville may beat FSU, FSU may win and still get into the CFP......but it's still a problem. A MASSIVE one. The SEC goes to battle it's a gang fight you have to beat their own army pointed in the same direction with the same goal....in the ACC you go to battle...you are alone...hell, you too often have your own team working against you.

Well ESPN has been beating the SEC is down since week 1. The question is motive?
Sankey isn't enamored per se with more expansion. I think ESPN believes it is the best storyline for next year when Texas and Oklahoma arrive, they can play up the angle of a resurgent Texas and pit them against Alabama and Georgia or LSU and Georgia depending upon what Saban does at the end of the year. It is a slight disservice to the SEC this year, whose second tier has been pretty strong this year (Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU). I do think the SEC is off a notch from the dominance of the last couple of years, but my purpose in mentioning this is it is not only FSU who gets this treatment. ESPN for their own purposes plays king maker annually and it starts damned early every season.

If I had to hazard a guess, they are getting ready for Saban's departure, are pressuring FSU to remain in the ACC by letting them know their power to shape the narrative when they don't behave as subservient as ESPN deems necessary, and they are going to use the "SEC is down" narrative to soft soap more consolidation.

We'll see. But you aren't paranoid, just looking at it from an FSU perspective only.

I hated CBS coverage and indifference to conference needs. ESPN has been more cooperative from that perspective, but CBS never tried to king make, just commentate, frequently not knowing when to shut up. With ESPN it is constant agenda, and that too is tiresome. Maybe Notre Dame is wise to keep NBC. It is a mutually beneficial relationship with as much fidelity as one could hope for in a business arrangement. FOX, IMO is just a cheaper more skanky version of ESPN.