For Better or Worse? What NIL and Conference Expansion, Thanks to Texas and Oklahoma's move to the SEC, Means for College Football

Chowder and Grits: The Podcast for Virginia Tech & ACC Sports

It's been a while since we've heard any real chatter around mega conferences and college football expansion talk, and then Oklahoma and Texas dropped a bomb during the Big 12 2021 kickoff celebration. The bomb, of course, was Texas and OU informing the Big 12 that they were dropping out of the conference and headed to the SEC. Can the Big 12 Conference survive, and if it does will it be worth a Power 5 designation? We discuss, along with some other hypothetical discussions of what expansion could look like for the other Power 5 conferences, and how the ACC needs to leverage this into a new TV deal to remain competitive, or else they may be the next conference to dissolve.

We also discuss NIL (name, image, likeness) and how it will impact college football. Will the rich get richer or will this cause blue chip recruits, the ones most likely to benefit from NIL, to head to programs where they can shine brighter, for longer.