College football insider says Big Ten wants nothing to do with two major programs

College football’s chaotic conference realignment over the past few years makes its full impact this season. Several new teams are settling into new homes. The Big Ten adds four programs to the membership – Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA – bringing the total member schools to 18 schools.

But is that it? Would the Big Ten like to get to 20 members? Florida State and Clemson would be big name possibilities. The two schools are suing the ACC over exit fees. The southeast location of the two programs might be attractive to the Big Ten.

But according to Action Sports insider Bret McMurphy, the Big Ten isn’t interested. He says, “100% of everyone I talked to –  and these are university presidents, conference personnel, athletic directors, consultants, network executives – 100% said the Big Ten doesn’t want Florida State or Clemson if the league (ACC) stays together.”

McMurphy continued, “The only way Florida State or Clemson get into the Big Ten is if the league (ACC) blows up. And then if that happens it's a feeding frenzy. The SEC and Big Ten will fight over North Carolina and Virginia. Then Florida State and Clemson find a home. Maybe Miami or a couple other teams. The Big Ten is at 20. The SEC is at 20.”

If Florida State is completely free of the ACC, McMurphy doesn’t see the Big Ten changing its mind. He says trust is also an issue, “When they say they can’t trust Florida State they mean they’re disruptive, they can’t be a good partner. You don’t want to bring that school to your conference if you think that. If you think, ‘OK, this is what they did to the ACC.’ One source I talked to said, ‘Look Brett, they got the Attorney General involved. They accused former (ACC) commissioner John Swafford of cooking the books … if they’re going to do that for the ACC how do we know they won’t do that to us?’ These are presidents talking, so that carries a lot more weight.”