Is SMU worthy of being considered as a trio with Stanford and Cal to join ACC expansion? Exploring latest news on conference realignments

SMU could leave the American Athletic Conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

As college football realignment has been the story this year, the AAC and ACC have been quiet in adding schools. Yet, the ACC will have a call to discuss adding Stanford and Cal from the Pac-12 and SMU from the AAC. Adding Stanford and Cal makes sense, as the conference is down to just four schools, but SMU did come as a bit of a surprise to some.

However, SMU has been pushing to join a Power 5 conference and also has enough money to entice some Power 5 conferences. According to reports, SMU told the ACC that they wouldn't earn a full share of league revenue until 2030.

The SMU Mustang also has a football team that could at least compete in the ACC, as they went 7-6 last year but 5-3 in the AAC and in 2021 went 8-4 but 4-4 in the AAC. However, should SMU join a Power 5 conference, it's expected that it would lead to more top recruits getting interested in accepting their scholarships.

Moreever, adding the state of Texas to the ACC makes a lot of sense for viewership and more TV ratings. Once the media rights deal is up, having a school in Texas will likely bring in more revenue.

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Will the ACC accept the three schools?

At the moment, no decision has been made on SMU, Cal and Stanford, but it's expected that one will be made by the end of the week.

However, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and NC State have already voted no earlier this year to Stanford and Cal joining the conference. However, with all three schools not taking the media right deal, that may change their decision, as well as the fact that the ACC wants to expand.

"The ACC has been and remains highly engaged in looking at anything that makes us a better and stronger conference," Phillips told ESPN.

"We've spent considerable time on expansion to see if there is anything that fits. We have a tremendous group of institutions, but if there was something that made us better, we would absolutely be open to it."

For now, SMU remains waiting to see if the ACC will accept them, but the school does make a lot of sense for the conference.