SEC reportedly courting ACC, Big 12 teams to play this fall

It’s been a wild few days for decision makers in college football, and this morning, there’s a report that the SEC is reaching out to other leagues to try to salvage the fall season. On his show today, Dan Patrick cited a source that said the SEC is courting teams from the ACC and Big 12 to form a “super conference” this fall. 

“The Big Ten and Pac-12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow,” Patrick said, reading the source’s message. “The ACC and Big 12 are on the fence. The SEC is trying to get a delay to have teams join them. The SEC is looking at exclusive TV contracts…They’re trying to buy time to see if the ACC or Big 12 will go along with them.”

According to the source, the vote in the Big Ten meeting on canceling fall football was 12-2, with Nebraska and Iowa wanting to play. In the Big 12, Oklahoma and Texas are the two teams fighting to save a fall season, and therefore may be interested in the SEC’s proposal.

“The SEC is trying to see if they can pick off some of these schools and see if they want to join them,” Patrick said. “If you can get Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and they’re going to join you in the SEC, you’ve got a super conference.”

While it seems the writing is on the wall with the Big Ten and the Pac-12, Patrick said the SEC is determined to find a way to play this fall. As of now, the league’s conference-only slate is scheduled to kick off on September 26.

“I said, can we see a scenario where the SEC just plays SEC football and that’s it? He didn’t want to go down that road, but I’m told, that’s what the SEC — the SEC looks at themselves, they’re different. They’re different than any other school, any other conference, and they’re approaching it that way. Would I be surprised if we had SEC football and maybe a couple of different outliers there? No. But I do think these other conferences are going to close up shop here.”

DP was told an hour ago that the Big 10 and Pac 12 will cancel their football seasons tomorrow… The ACC and the Big 12 are on the fence.. And the SEC is trying to get teams to join them for a season.

Watch live: https://t.co/sMaeXQkLfl pic.twitter.com/oSUNGMTEqw

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 10, 2020