Florida State Expected To Start Process Of Leaving ACC Imminently

The College Football Playoff committee decision to leave Florida State out of this year's tournament may fundamentally change college football. Yet again.

Florida State is now expected to start the process of leaving the ACC imminently. That's right. More conference realignment. Presumably as a result of the committee's decision, which showed school administrators that going undefeated in the ACC wasn't treated with the same level of accomplishment as losing one game in the SEC.

And according to Brett McMurphy, the Florida State process "will have an 'Opppenheimer-like' ripple effect" throughout the sport. With the Seminoles set to explore the Big Ten, SEC or even the Big 12 Conference.

All because the committee (and possibly ESPN) couldn't bring themselves to have an SEC-free playoff for literally one season.

CHARLOTTE - Quarterback Jordan Travis a day after having surgery holds the football trophy with his teammates during the ACC Football Championship Game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Florida State Seminoles on December 2 at Bank of America Stadium. (Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Florida State Overreacting To 2023 Snub?

There are potentially other motivations for the Seminoles to explore new conference destinations. Back in August, the school's president referenced revenue sharing concerns, saying that the school wasn't getting the revenue it deserved.

"FSU helps to drive value and will drive value for any partner," Richard McCullough said, according to ESPN. "But we have spent a year trying to understand how we might fix the issue. There are no easy fixes to this challenge, but a group of us have spent literally a year. We've explored every possible option that you can imagine. The issue at hand is what can we do to allow ourselves to be competitive in football and get what I think is the revenue we deserve?"

But it does feel like the urgency of this current exploration is due in part to the playoff snub. And as OutKick founder Clay Travis pointed out, that may not make that much sense.

The 12-team playoff essentially makes conference strength moot; an undefeated ACC team will be in the playoff going forward, no matter the injury. If anything, joining the super conference lineups in the Big Ten or SEC would make getting into the top-12 harder.

Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, USC, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, UCLA...Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, LSU, Missouri...getting through either of those gauntlets is significantly harder than the ACC lineup.

The Big 12 doesn't offer a significantly better group, or more money. So maybe FSU is just trying to create some panic in the ACC offices?

What Other Dominoes Would Fall If FSU Leaves The ACC?

McMurphy said that there's expected to be a "ripple" effect to Florida State exploring other options. What exactly that ripple is, is uncertain.

But if Florida State does follow through on its threats and moves to more lucrative pastures, what happens with other realignment decisions? Do Oregon State and Washington State follow Stanford and Cal and officially end the zombie Pac-12? Does the ACC try and lure Notre Dame somehow?

Do the SEC or Big Ten, assuming FSU joins either, add another team to keep an even number?

For a few minutes, it seemed like college football had reached an equilibrium after the hectic period around the collapse of the Pac-12. But with today's report, those days are once again over, and we could be in for yet another exhausting period of "will they or won't they" based around making more money.