Everyone knows that college football is in a spot where teams are just trying to survive and stay relevant. With the SEC and Big 10 breaking away from the rest of college football at a rate that we’ve never seen before, the ACC and Big 12 are trying to do whatever they can to stay at the top.
The Pac-12’s recent collapse has left the ACC and Big 12 as the only remaining Power Conferences. Both claim to be the third-best league in college football, but which one is?
Top Brands: ACC
When you look at top teams in the Big 12 vs the ACC, the lead is clearly the ACC. With Florida State, Clemson, and Miami, the league has three brands that are better and bigger than anything that the Big 12 has.
This is perhaps the biggest issue that the Big 12 currently has. The conference is very unified, but it lacks a huge brand name. Sure, Utah has been to recent Rose Bowls, TCU was in the National Championship a few years back, and BYU may have one of the biggest nationwide fan bases, but there isn’t a single team that really moves the needle in the conference.
If we compare the best brands in the Big 12 to the ACC, they’d probably be in the same range as a team like Lousiville or North Carolina or the second-tier ACC brands.
Overall Talent: Big 12
The ACC has some really good teams on the top. Florida State and Clemson have both spent quite a bit of time in the Top 5 the past few years, but behind them there isn’t a ton of talent. The bottom of the ACC is also really, really bad. When was the last time anyone reallly considered Wake Forest, Duke, Syracuse, California or Boston College a good football school?
That isn’t an issue in the Big 12. Every single Big 12 school besides maybe Arizona State has a real shot at making a bowl game this upcoming season. The conference is perhaps the deepest conference in all of college football with no really bad teams.
In this case, the sum of all 16 Big 12 teams outweighs the sum of the top handful of ACC teams.
Expansion Additions: Big 12
When the Pac-12 collapsed, the Big 12 quickly picked up the four best teams they could from the remaining eight schools. The Big 12 also got the best G5 brands (UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, and BYU) the year before. The ACC, however, came in late and picked up Cal, Stanford, and SMU.
Stanford is a great academic and Olympic sports school, SMU is the Dallas market, and Cal is…Cal, but there is no comparison here. The Big 12 clearly upgraded their conference with their eight additions, whereas outside of reaching the West Coast market, the ACC didn’t do much to help theirs.
History: ACC
This sort of goes with the brand theme in that a brand is built off of history, but it is different enough because it doesn’t always have a direct connection. For example, Oregon is a huge brand, yet they lack a Natinoal Champinoship.
The ACC has 14 AP-recognized National Championship teams, while the Big 12 only has two. Similiar stats could be said about Heisman trophy winners, Doak Walker award winners, and success in the NFL, although the NFL differential is debatable.
Stability: Big 12
The ACC feels like it could be following the Pac-12’s example. Because of their current TV revenue deal, ACC schools will fall far behind every other Power Conference, and teams like Florida State and Clemson do not have it. Currently, well over a dozen lawsuits are flying around the conference as teams sue each other over the issue.
The Big 12, on the other hand, feels very unified and happy. That’s not to say things couldn’t turn around quickly, but as of today, July 18th, 2024, the Big 12 teams are perhaps the most unified conference in the country. Throw in the deals that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is trying to work out with private equity firms and throwing around the possibility of a naming rights deal, and it may be enough to even pull some ACC schools to the Big 12.
Big Ten, SEC unlikely to add Florida State if it leaves ACC & ACC survives, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. Big Ten & SEC don’t want FSU because adding FSU doesn’t make financial sense, no desire to expand & “they’ve been a disruptive partner,” sources said https://t.co/YhOPDC3O1k
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 16, 2024
Overall Verdict: Depends
This is the great thing about college football. Depending on what you value and think is the most important will sway which conference is the better conference. If history is all you care about, the ACC is clearly better. If you are looking for stability and strength today, the answer is the Big 12.
For me, the answer is the Big 12 because if I had to bet which conference would likely still be around in five years, it would be the Big 12.
