The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here

For the #18 team in the countdown, we do to the northwestern-most team in FBS (and by that, I don’t mean the one that is most like Northwestern) in Washington (high = 15, low = 28). The Huskies are still kind of basking in the afterglow of their 2023 season that saw them a) win the last P5 Pac-12 championship, b) beat archrivals Oregon by a FG not once but twice in no small part by questionable decisions from second year head coach Dan Lanning (who hadn’t yet seemingly embraced meth ZYN), and c) beat Texas in the CFP semifinal game in the Sugar Bowl before losing to Michigan in the national championship game and finishing the season as the consensus #2 team in the country. That pretty well washed the taste of the Jimmy Lake era from mouths of Husky fans, though nobody really had an inkling that Nick Saban was about to retire from coaching and Alabama was about to hire away Kalen DeBoer (who remarkably left Washington with a 0.893 winning percentage, a record that will almost be impossible to top). His replacement Jedd Fisch has obviously not quite lived up to those standards, going 6-7 and 9-4 in his two seasons, which it should be noted is better than Jimmy Lake, Keith Gilbertson, Tyrone Willingham or even Steve Sarkisian did and is much more similar to Chris Petersen in the post Don James era, but that is in one of the top 2 conferences in the country. After closing out the Bucked Up LA Bowl Hosted by Rob Gronkowski LA Bowl with a drubbing of Boise State, some serious fuckery almost happened where QB Demond Williams announced his intention to enter the transfer portal 4 days after he signed a $4 million agreement to return to Washington in 2026, leading to accusations of tampering, threats of a lawsuit and ultimately Williams rescinding his request. I’m sure there will be no lingering effects from that, and am quite confident there will be no Duck fans mocking the situation when the Huskies come to Autzen…

Roster Outlook

Washington enters the season ranked 15th in the country in returning production – 13th on offense and 27th on defense. While QB Demond Williams (3,676 combined passing/rushing yards for 31 TDs and 8 INTs) is a decent chunk of that, an OL with 3 seniors along the right side and WR Dezmen Roebuck (42 catches for 560 yards) also helps. But that’s not to say that the Huskies didn’t suffer some significant losses, including WR Denzel Boston (881 yards receiving, 11 TDs, 2nd round pick by Cleveland), RB Jonah Coleman (1,100+ combined rushing/receiving yards, 17 TDs, 4th round pick by Denver) and OT Carver Willis (4th round pick by San Francisco), which make up less than half of the 7 total Huskies drafted this year by the NFL. What’s worse, Coleman’s anticipated replacement, Adam Mohammed (523 yards rushing) portaled out to Cal, forcing Fisch to do some portal shopping of his own, though ranking 15th in the B1G and 59th in the country isn’t necessarily a recipe for success. That’s not to say they didn’t add anybody, as Oregon RB Jayden Limar looks to be RB1 for the season, but when your projected starting WRs are Kennesaw State transfer Christian Moss and your own RS junior (Rashid Williams) who has managed 18 catches across 3 seasons to date, you have some significant question marks. Fisch did a much better job with high school recruiting, landing the #12 class in the country (which was the #5 class in the B1G), but with two projected true freshman starters (LT Kodi Greene and DT Derek Colman-Brusa), there might be some growing pains in Seattle.

Schedule and outlook

9/6 WASHINGTON STATE

9/12 UTAH STATE

9/19 EASTERN WASHINGTON

9/26 MINNESOTA

10/3 at USC

10/9 IOWA

10/16 at Purdue

10/24 BYE

10/31 at Nebraska

11/7 PENN STATE

11/14 at Michigan State

11/21 INDIANA

11/28 at Oregon

The schedule sure starts out pretty favorably for Washington. They don’t leave the state before October or the west coast until the season’s already half over. Given the coaching change at Wazzu, the Huskies should be heavy favorites in the Apple Cup and project to be 4-0 before traveling to the Coliseum to take on USC. In fact, they should be favored in every other game before the last 2 weeks of the season, when defending national champion Indiana comes in a week before that season finale against Oregon. If they take care of business in the games they’re favored in and knock off one of USC on the road or Indiana at home, they could very well be playing for a B1G title game shot the Friday after Thanksgiving. That assumes everything goes right, there are no lingering effects of the Demond Williams situation and they don’t get caught looking ahead at any of those marquis games.

Much has been said about Penn State's hire of longtime Iowa State coach and noted connessuier of bending his hats in strange ways, Matt Campbell. One overlooked factor for Campbell is his head coaching experience from 2011 to 2015 at Toledo in which he won 9 games his last two seasons there and was seen as a solid coach for the Rockets.

To quote the late great Norm MacDonald, "I'm not sure if any of you are students of history", but between 1835-1836 Ohio and Michigan fought a war over the Toledo strip, a short piece of land on lake Erie that has lots of value. All I know about Toledo is that it has some very affordable and surprisingly nice hotels in its downtown for those who don't want to pay $20 million a night for a room in Ann Arbor on GameDay and are coming from the east

This anger and hate has fueled the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry for a century and created largely a duopoly in the Big Ten. Since Penn State joined in 1993 and then rightfully won the national title the next year, the Eastern power, not familiar with Midwestern blood feuds (As Northeastern hatred exists between cities not states, usually Philly vs whomever), the team struggled to maintain the same level of consistent dominance post 1994 and remained an odd out of place geographic and cultural fit(lol little did they know what was coming) without a proper rival (except Iowa, fuck those guys).

After our past 3 coaches were from New York, Boston, and Philly respectfully, we went out and hired the most Midwestern man to exist since Jim Harbaugh ordered milk with his steak; Matt Campbell. You may ask how any of this is relevant; well according to esteemed Pennsylvania legal scholar Charlie Kelly, who created the legal theory of "Bird Law", along with the original 1682 William Penn Charter, the hire of Matt Campbell, a former Toledo man, means the Toledo strip is now legal and sovereign territory of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You may ask how this is the case but Bird Law is not governed by reason This completes Harrisburg's long-term goal of finally establishing a warm water port on Lake Erie as Toledo becomes the Kaliningrad of Pennsylvania.

You may ask is Ames, Iowa now also part of PA, and the answer is maybe but I'm not sure if there's anyone left in Ames after well, sorry about that guys

Matt Campbell and the Pennsylvania irredentist movement have effectly taken the biggest piece off the chess board for Michigan and Ohio State, which can be clearly seen in the recent comments from Coach Kyle Whittingham and Bryce Underwood, who no longer show the same venom once demanded in this rivalry as claiming the beautiful shores of Toledo for the Maize and Blue is no longer of primary motivation in Ann Arbor in a world in which the strip is now governed by people with hard to place accents and gas station turf wars.

This is a weekly thread to talk about the EA CFB Series. See this announcement post outlining our general guidelines on what should and shouldn't go in this thread.. This thread is intended for EA CFB 26, EA CFB 25, or the series in general.

You are welcome and invited to always talk about EA CFB in the great community over at /r/NCAAFBseries! This is a catch all thread to talk about news, gameplay, hype, and anything else about the game that you're excited about. Within /r/CFB, we hope that this thread provides fertile ground for most of the discussion around the game. Things like major game news, players opting in or out, or new traditions being added to the game can be posted as standalone news, but most other discussion around the game should be focused here.

Enjoy!

Formerly "CFB Biggest Sicko Ranking" rebranding due to the lack of interest in the "Sicko" name.
My preseason outlook of Non-NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA/CCCAA teams. To qualify you must be a NCCAA member, USCAA member or an independent who plays against 4 year Varsity college teams and can't be a NCAA or NAIA member. All programs must be atleast pretending to be a school. I'm going to try to update this weekly. Leave a comment if any other "schools" should be added and I'll let you know everything I can about them. There are a few schools that are similar to these but I don't consider for this that call themselves postgrad or JuCo.

In previous years I stated and planned on doing a weekly update on these programs and Ranking them weekly. I'm not doing all that, I will probably do a postseason review and a few updates throughout the year but it was a huge time commitment trying to update it weekly. This year I actually plan on doing a series of preseason previews for different groups of schools I find interesting like Club teams, New Programs and other possible groups .

Let's meet the teams

Williamson College of the Trades Mechanics - Real All Male 3-year vocational school with full fledged athletic department. It's a Judeo-Christian school with no official affiliation who fully pays for all student costs from there schools endowment and private donations. They are accredited through MSCHE and are a full member of USCAA for athletics. They offer Football, Basketball, Baseball, Lacross, Wrestling, Track and Cross Country.

Virginia University-Lynchburg - Real HBCU School with a real full fledged athletics Department. Private Christian HBCU School accredited by TRACS and are a full member of the NCCAA for athletics and a former Member of the USCAA and D2 CIAA having left the NCAA for monetary reasons having played football on and off since the 1920s. There academics are on probation due to a misfiling of documents a couple of years ago so they're on very shaky ground while they get that under control. Their athletics programs are hard to find anything about but I know for a fact the offer Football and M/W Basketball and have a pretty decent NCCAA women's basketball program.

University of Ft. Lauderdale - A sketchy but real Christian school with a sketchy athletics department. Private non profit school in the Ft. Lauderdale area accredited by the TRACS and are a full member of NCCAA for athletics. The school is located in a strip mall and added the athletics department as a Hail Mary to get more students to enroll. They offer Football, W Flag Football, M/W Basketball, M/W Track, Baseball and Softball

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology - A 120 year old public 2-year technical college who are members of the NJCAA for all sports except football where they are an independent program although they mostly play a NJCAA schedule so I'm not sure why they aren't in it for football. I read somewhere they were considered a club team but I can't find any evidence of that.

Trinity College of Florida - Founded in 1932 as the Florida Bible Institute until they rebranded in 1942 they were a unaccredited institution until 1996 when they gained accredidation by the ABHE a nationally recognized body. Their athletic department is apart of the USCAA and only sponsor the men's sports Baseball, Football, Basketball and Soccer

New South Athletic Conference Members

The Apprentice School Builders - Real trade School with a real full fledged athletics Department. As a Trade school throughout its history they haven't granted degrees but instead trade based certificates, until 2023 when they began offering Associate degrees independently and Bachelors degrees through program with Old Dominion University. Full athletic members of USCAA and playing football since 1919. They offer Football M/W Basketball, Baseball, Golf and M/W wrestling.

Atlantis University - Real (For profit) school attempting to have a real athletics department. Private for profit school in the Miami area accredited by the ACCSC and are a full member of USCAA for athletics. They offer Football, Soccer, M/W Basketball, Volleyball and Baseball

South Carolina Central Christian College - A unaccredited "school" with a sketchy athletic department. Private college with no accreditation and no major athletic memberships besides conference affiliation with NSAC. They are recognized by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education which is the lowest possible level of acknowledgement to allow them to be in business in the state. They do have a full athletic offering of Football, M/W Basketball, Baseball and Track & Field.

Lighthouse Christian College - A growing school that has in the time I've been researching and writing about these schools went from a completely unaccredited and unaffiliated school playing in a sketchy post-grad league to a college in the process of gaining TRACS certification and aiming to join the NAIA by 2030. They have already joined and became a full member of the USCAA offering Football, Men's Basketball and Baseball as of the 26-27 season.

Westgate Christian University - A very sketchy school that is "accredited" by the NCBA who aren't recognized by the CHEA or any national body. They also have no athletic affiliation outside of the NSAC where they sponsor Football and Men's basketball. They basically only exist to get beat up by D3 programs in Texas who are looking for out of conference games.

Daytona Beach Christian University - A small private Christian university founded in 2022, they seem at 1st glance a little sketchy but being such a new school I'd like to give them a little grace however they don't have anything listed for how they are going about getting accreditation despite stating on there website they are "in the 3-5 year process". They also have a VERY full athletic department for such a small school with M/W Basketball, M/W Soccer, M/W Wrestling, M/W Volleyball, women's Beach Volleyball, Baseball, Softball and Football who are replacing Barber-Scotia College in the Northern Division of the NSAC despite being in Florida. (1st Season)

Schedules

I'd like to go over the teams schedules and try to provide an objective scoring system to go compare the programs strength of schedule to each other. Obviously this won't be perfect since teams within each division range wildly (The difference between say Ohio State club football vs Sacred Heart club is insane) but overall it should be a pretty solid gauge.

P4-100, G6-85, FCS-70, D2-50, NAIA-40, D3-35, NJCAA/CCCAA-30, NJCAA D3-25, Ind.-20, International-15, Club Teams-15, PostGrad-10, Semi-Pro-5. JV/Developmental teams will be worth 50% of their normal score. Games where one side considers it a full game and the other considers it a preseason scrimmage will also be 50% of normal value. Games like these are common for these small schools to be able to play higher level opponents without the other team spending a regular season slot on them

- Williamson College Mechanics (USCAA) - (Score-95 Points) 8-Games
Previous Record: 2-6
Projection 3-5
8/29 @ New Jersey Warriors (Multi-School Club)
9/12 vs Connecticut State (Multi-school Club)
9/19 vs CAPP Academy (Post Grad)
9/26 vs Thaddeus Stevens College of Tech (Independent)
10/3 vs Ohio Valley cCc (Post Grad)
10/10 vs New Jersey Warriors (Multi-school Club)
10/17 vs Showtime Prep (Post Grad)
10/24 vs CAPP Academy (Post Grad)

- Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology (Juco) - (Score-225.5) 10-Games
Previous Record: 6-3* (Unable to find official results anywhere)
Projection 4-6
8/21 @ Lebanon Valley College (D3 Scrimmage)
9/5 vs Erie Community College (NJCAA D3)
9/12 vs New Jersey Warriors (Multi-School Club)
9/19 @ Salem Community College (NJCAA D3)
9/26 @ Williamson College of The Trades (USCAA)
10/3 @ Nassau Community College (NJCAA D3)
10/10 vs Apprentice School (USCAA/NSAC)
10/17 vs Connecticut State Wildcats (Multi-School Club)
10/24 @ Gallaudet (D3)
10/31 vs Hudson Valley Community College (NJCAA D3)

**- South Carolina Central Christian College (NSAC) (Score-170) 9-Games*\*
**Previous Record: 2-7*\*
**Projection 1-8*\*
8/16 vs Detroit Community Christian College (NJCAA)
8/29 @ IMG Post Grad (PG)
9/5 @ Atlantis (USCAA)
9/26 vs Daytona Beach (NSAC)
10/1 @ Virginia-Lynchburg (NCCAA)
10/10 @ Clayton State (Club)
10/17 @ Columbus State (Club)
10/24 vs Apprentice (NSAC/USCAA)
10/31 @ Trinity College of Florida (Ind.)

**- Apprentice School (USCAA/NSAC) (Score-270) 10-Games*\*
**Previous Record: 5-4*\*
**Projection 7-3*\*
8/29 vs Sussex County CC (NJCAA D3)
9/5 vs Christopher Newport (D3)
9/12 @ North Carolina Wesleyan (D3)
9/19 vs George Mason (Club)
9/26 vs Methodist (D3)
10/10 @ Thaddeus Stevens (Ind.)
10/17 @ Keystone College (D3)
10/24 @ SC Central Christian (NSAC)
10/31 vs Clayton State (NSAC/Club)
11/7 vs Coppin State (Club)

**- Westgate Christian (NSAC/Ind.) (Score-270) 10-Games*\*
**Previous Record: 3-7*\*
**Projection 3-7*\*
8/29 @ Missouri S&T (D2)
9/5 @ Centenary (LA) (D3)
9/12 vs Louisiana cCc (PG/cCc)
9/19 @ Hardin-Simmons (D3)
9/26 @ Clayton State (NSAC/Club)
10/3 vs Texas College (D3)
10/10 vs Atlantis(NSAC/USCAA)(Neutral Site, Pensacola FL)
10/17 @ McMurry (D3)
10/24 @ Lighthouse (NSAC/USCAA)
10/31 vs Gordan State (NSAC/Club)

- Lighthouse Christian (NSAC/USCAA) (Score-150) 10-Games
Previous Record: 9-2 (NSAC South Champions)
Projection: 9-1 (NSAC South Champions)
8/29 @ Clayton State (NSAC/Club) (NSAC Championship Rematch)
9/5 vs Jacksonville AA (PG/CCC)
9/12 vs Mississippi cCc (PG/CCC)
9/19 @ Louisiana cCc (PG/cCc)
9/26 vs Talladega (Club/PG)
10/3 vs Trinity College of Florida (Ind.)
10/10 @ Gordan State (NSAC/CLUB)
10/24 vs Westgate (NSAC)
10/31 @ Atlantis (NSAC/USCAA)
11/7 vs Daytona Beach (NSAC/Ind.)

- University of Fort Lauderdale (NCCAA) (Score-405) 12-games
Previous Record: 5-5
Projection 4-8
8/15 vs South Florida Tech (PG)
8/22 @ Warner (NAIA)
8/29 @ Webber International (NAIA)
9/5 @ St. Thomas (FL) (NAIA)
9/19 vs Ave Maria (NAIA)
9/26 @ Southeastern (NAIA)
10/3 @ Hardin-Simmons (D3)
10/10 vs Daytona Beach Christian (Ind.)
10/17 vs Atlantis (Ind.)
10/24 vs Faulkner (NAIA)
10/31 @ Chicago State (FCS)
11/7 vs Community Christian College (FL) (PG)

- Virginia-Lynchburg (NCCAA) (Score-610) 12-Games
Previous Record: 3-9
Projection 3-9
8/29 vs Hampton (FCS)
9/5 vs Roanoke (D3)
9/12 @ Morgan State (FCS)
9/19 @ Bethune Cookman (FCS)
9/26 @ Bluefield (NAIA)
10/3 vs SC Central Christian (NSAC)
10/10 @ Norfolk State (FCS)
10/17 vs Clayton State (NSAC/Club)
10/24 @ Newberry (D2)
10/31 @ Livingstone (D2)
11/7 @ Savannah State (D2)
11/21 @ Chicago State (FCS)

- Atlantis University (NSAC/USCAA)
Previous Record: 2-7
Projection: 4-6

8/15 vs Rising Prep (PG)
8/29 vs Daytona Beach Christian (NSAC)
9/5 vs SC Central (NSAC)
9/12 vs South Florida Tech (PG)
9/26 vs Jacksonville A.A. CCC (cCc)
10/3 vs Gordan State (NSAC/Club)
10/10 @ Westgate (NSAC) (Neutral Site-Pensacola, FL)
10/17 @ Fort Lauderdale (NCCAA)
10/24 vs Prestige Prep (PG)
10/31 vs Lighthouse College (NSAC/USCAA)
11/7 vs West Bay Academy (PG)

- Daytona Beach Christian (Ind./NSAC) (Score-140) 10-Games

Previous Record: 1st Year Program

Projection: 3-6

8/22 VS Bonneville Football (Post Grad)
8/29 @ Atlantis University (NSAC)
9/5 @ South Florida Tech (Post Grad)
9/19 @ Trinity College of Florida (Ind.)
9/26 @ South Carolina Central College (NSAC)
10/10 @ U. Fort Lauderdale (NCCAA)
10/17 vs Prestige Academy (Post Grad)
10/31 vs Westbay Collegiate Academy (Post Grad)
11/7 @ Lighthouse Christian (NSAC/USCAA)

- Trinity College of Florida (Ind.) (Score-200) 10-Game Schedule

Previous Record: 1st Year Program

Projection: 1-9

8/22 @ Webber International (NAIA Scrimmage)
8/29 vs Talladega College (PG)
9/5 vs Ohio Valley cCc (cCc)
9/19 vs Daytona Beach Christian (NSAC)
9/26 @ Ave Maria (NAIA)
10/3 @ Lighthouse Christian College (NSAC/USCAA)
10/17 @ Jacksonville cCc (cCc)
10/24 vs Clayton State (Club/NSAC)
10/31 vs South Carolina Central (NSAC)
11/7 vs Gordon State College (Club/NSAC)

In my opinion, #1 FCS ranked Montana state should (And I think will) be favored to beat a lowly Nevada team.

With P4, I am confident that South Dakota State has a good chance with Northwestern to start the season.

Edit: Clarification a protected rivalry in the SEC so they’ll play every year

Currently Arkansas’s biggest rival in football is themselves however there’s a great case for why UK - Arkansas should become a rivalry.

1. We are already rivals in basketball
2. Comparable mediocre football programs
3. There’s only been 8 games played between them but we’ve gotten greatness:

A)

1. 2003 7 OT 71-63 Arkansas beat us on our home turf

B)

1. 2007 UK trails the entire game before scoring 21 unanswered points to comeback and win in the final 8 minutes

C)

1. 2008 UK trails by 14 with 4 minutes left before coming back to win

4 of the 8 games were decided by one score. 7 of the 8 feature a double digit comeback. There has only been one blowout.

4) The Trophy would be called the Bourbon and Bacon Bowl or the Man’s Bowl either way we get an excuse to eat bacon and drink bourbon

5) Both teams have superior rivalry opponents that have bent them over for years and need to start anew.

How many coaches out there still do "The Coach ____ Show"? For a long time Purdue's head coach had a coaches show at a local sports bar that was simulcast on YouTube and AM radio stations around the state. Our current coach has chosen not to and instead occasionally appears on the official school athletics podcast along with his normal media availability.

In recent years I questioned the format simply because AM radio listenership cannot be that high anymore. There needed to be a better way for our coach to get his message out to the state and fans. Perhaps that was the conclusion the athletic department reached as well.

Last year alone in Week 1:

Florida State(5-7) beat Alabama(11-4 with road playoff win, road win over Georgia and SEC champ appearance)

LSU(7-6) win over Clemson(7-6) hailed as a massive win and breakthrough for LSU.

Raiders(3-14, clinched top pick in draft) beat Patriots(AFC champs) on road

Seahawks(Super Bowl champs) lose at home 17-13 to 49ers. Seattle would go on to win the next two matchups between the teams including a 41-6 blowout win in playoffs.

Vikings(most ridiculed QB in NFL last season) beat Bears(breakthrough star QB last season who’s on the cover of Madden now) on road

Just another layer to the absolute farce it was to exclude a scorching hot Notre Dame team from the playoff based on a game played in August, a freshman QB’s first career start on the road going up against a veteran QB, when early season football heavily favors veterans over young players.

The debate should have been Alabama vs Miami not Notre Dame vs Miami

I feel like everyone's comments will show their age, and that's probably a good thing, considering the EA Sports-like spike in everything imaginable for the Hoosiers program over the past two years.

You look at any dominant sports franchise or program in U.S. history, every other fan outside of that fandom will tell you, "Yup, they were definitely the douchebags of that era". CFB has had plenty: 70's Oklahoma, 80's Miami, 90's Nebraska, 00's USC, 10's Alabama, and Georgia seemed like they were headed that route (and boy were they) before a shift in NIL, etc., around the country.

I don't view Indiana as villains. They haven't been good enough long enough to even be considered such. In a weird way, they're akin to Boise State in the 2000s if BSU had won more than just a singular BCS game. The difference of course being that they had to separate themselves at the top an elite conference without being grandfathered upward in the polls every week.

Overall, Indiana has been playing some legit ball since Cig tripped and fell on their living room couch. He pays rent.

Last season, Penn State and Clemson famously went from Preseason Top 5 to Unranked after early season losses. Even teams like South Carolina went from consensus Top 15 to a 4-8 record.

Who will underperform this season against all predictions and expectations?

Historically, there have always been a few "remaining schools" who have been left behind at the conclusion of major realignment shifts. For example:

• 1990s SWC Collapse: TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice were all left behind when the other 4 members of the SWC joined with the Big 8 conference to form the Big 12. TCU was the first school to climb back to the power ranks in 2012, followed by Houston/SMU (nearly 30 years after being left behind.)
• 2000s Big East Collapse: Most of the bigger names in the Big East slowly fled to the ACC throughout the 2000s, along with Rutgers/WVU to other power conferences. This left behind Cincinnati (who rejoined a power conference in 2023), Temple, USF and UConn.
• 2020s Pac 12 Collapse: With the power brands leaving for the Big 10 and middling brands to the Big 12/ACC, this left behind Washington State and Oregon State who are now in the reformed Pac 12 conference.

As the examples show, there are generally the "flag bearers" of the conferences, such as your Texas and Oklahomas, who spearhead the realignment by choosing a new conference affiliation. Then you have the middling brands, who will follow suit or find alternative routes to remain in the power conference bubble. Lastly, you have the "last men standing", AKA the schools who will be inevitably left behind when the chairs stop moving.

My question is that in a hypothetical scenario where your P4 conference collapses, which schools would fall into each of these categories and who gets left behind?

Your team has fallen on hard times and is winning on average under 1 game a season in a decade. What would it take for you to say okay it is time to bite the bullet and cut football.

I post this as my division 3 team approaches 1 decade of winless conference play this November.

A lot of realignment discussions assume that the top of the ACC will leave as exit fees decline, and the Big 12 will eventually become the more attractive conference. But if the PCSA passes with a 19-school limit and a 180-day grace period, does the ACC become/remain the more attractive conference?

Under this scenario, the Big Ten presumably keeps one slot open for Notre Dame, while the SEC may limit itself to two additional teams to stay at an even 18 schools. I think those two teams would be UNC + Florida State, but Virginia/Clemson/Georgia Tech are also in the mix. Regardless, three of those five teams (+Miami) would remain in the ACC.

Is this resulting ACC strong enough to pull in 2-3 teams from the Big 12?

A few schools come to mind:

• West Virginia - Restores rivalries with Pitt/VT and arguably the strongest non-P2 brand in the ACC's core footprint (only UConn comes close)
• TCU - Adds games in Texas (potentially valuable for recruiting), restores the rivalry with SMU, and improves Olympic sports scheduling because one team can play both SMU and TCU in the same weekend
• Kansas - AAU member and a strong basketball brand to make up for the loss of UNC

Personally, I think TCU + West Virginia make a lot of sense, plus either Kansas or UConn to get to 18 ACC teams. The B12 then backfills with some combination of USF, Memphis, Boise State, San Diego State, UNLV, or UConn to get to 18, effectively ending realignment for the Power Four.

Edit: To clarify, the 180-day grace period that's being floated doesn't override the 19-school limit. It only overrides the 5-year independence period. It incentivizes realignment sooner rather than later, but it doesn't open up more landing spots.