What Will the ACC Football Conference Look like in Five Years?

The latest news on college football expansion is that the Pac-12 has turned down the Big 12 schools because Texas wouldn't give up their Longhorn Network deal. Anybody that thinks the expansion has ended is foolish. Within five years there will still be a complete overhaul to the landscape of college football. The ACC has made moves to ensure they still exist in five years by adding teams and increasing the amount of money it will cost to leave. So what will the ACC look like five years from now?

Maryland, Duke, North Carolina, NC State
College football drives the NCAA bus but the ACC is one of the few conferences that does have to consider their basketball conference. Obviously Maryland, Duke, North Carolina and NC State are too important in basketball either recently or historically to allow of them to leave.

Florida State, Miami (FL), Georgia Tech, Clemson
There are some SEC fans that think the SEC may go after Florida State and Miami but neither addition would add a market to the SEC, which is the whole point of expansion. Also, Florida has gone on record saying they don't want Florida State and Miami, Georgia has said they don't want Georgia Tech and South Carolina doesn't want Clemson. If one of these teams tries to join the SEC then those teams could join forces to vote against it.

Virginia, Wake Forest, Boston College
Virginia and Wake Forest aren't the most important teams in the ACC and Boston College in the ACC still seems weird. However, the ACC has limited choices for who to add so if the ACC wants to be a 16-team super conference then they need to keep these three teams to fill out spots.

Pittsburgh, Syracuse
Pittsburgh and Syracuse have already been announced as new additions. Pittsburgh brings a football program with a lot of tradition and a basketball program that has been very good-at least in the regular season-for several seasons. The addition of Syracuse gives the ACC yet another college basketball powerhouse.

Rutgers, Connecticut
After the additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse the ACC will still need three more teams to fill out a 16-team conference. Rutgers and Connecticut both make a lot of sense. These two teams will add new markets, even if neither school has a great following in football. Connecticut would also be a great addition for the basketball conference.

Notre Dame
The last spot goes to Notre Dame. The ACC seems like an odd choice. Notre Dame has a lot of rivalries with the Big Ten schools and they are already in the Big East in basketball. There has been a lot of support from fans and students for the ACC though. The ACC is also the best choice if Notre Dame wants to associate with the BCS conference with the most academic-minded schools.