Brady Quinn on SEC not expanding: 'Least shocking thing I've read'
Brady Quinn wasn’t expecting the SEC to add any more programs to their conference, so the former Notre Dame star wasn’t shocked when news broke that the conference’s presidents have decided they’d like to stay at 16 teams in the future.
After the news set the college football world ablaze, Quinn took to Twitter to give his reasonings.
“Least shocking thing I’ve read today,” wrote Quinn. “If you’re the SEC, would you want to split up the pie even more? If you’re ESPN, would you want to add ACC programs that you already have rights to thru 2036?”
Moreover, Quinn was responding to a report from Saturday Down South stating that thee SEC isn’t looking to add any more teams to their conference, according to multiple SEC sources.
“We’re positioned at 16 (teams) for a robust future,” an SEC athletic director told SDS. “The need just isn’t there.”
While SDS added that two SEC sources stated that “need” could change their plans, the conferences believes they’re positioned well for future success with their current crop of future programs.
“I don’t see any (expansion) move as threatening to us,” an SEC source told SDS.
One of the programs who many believe would have their choice of whichever conference to join is Quinn’s Notre Dame, but a SDS source stated that there may be no need for the Fighting Irish in the SEC.
“Why? I’ll put our product vs. anyone’s product,” the source told SDS. “So we’re going to just add schools to add schools? There’s no value in that.”
While things could always change — like a potential mass exodus of the Atlantic Coast Conference — the SEC seems to think there isn’t another move needed. Time will tell if the conference sticks to their word, or if they open their doors if another big-time program comes calling.
Pete Thamel details Notre Dame’s path to joining a conference, hurdles with ACC
Continuing, as questions regarding the future of college football continue to linger, the biggest fish in the ocean remains the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
If the historic program decides to end their time as an independent and join a conference, they would be the prettiest girl at the dance. While the Fighting Irish have been associated with the ACC in all of their other sports, Pete Thamel of ESPN doesn’t foresee things trending that way on the football field.
“If Notre Dame was to join a league, it’s unlikely to be the ACC. That’s especially with the way things are trending financially,” began Thamel. “If the Irish are still in the ACC in all their other sports, as they are currently, they are required to join the ACC in football if they join a league. But the Big Ten wouldn’t take Notre Dame as a football-only member, so it would have to pull out of the ACC and pay any relative fees and deal with any grant-of-rights issues for the non-football sports.
“Notre Dame isn’t going to make a knee-jerk move, as it has thrived amid more than a century of independence. It is the best asset left, and there’s a drop to No. 2. So it will be compelling to follow.”
As Pete Thamel pointed out, there’s plenty of legwork to do for Notre Dame if they choose to join either the Big Ten or SEC. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish are going to do their due diligence before making a move — and the college football world will wait for their decision.