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SMU on ACC’s short list of candidates if conference looks to expand

The Pac-12 is on the brink of demise, the Big 12 has added eight schools and now the ACC could be ready to broaden, as well.

The next round of realignment began when USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.

Almost immediately, representatives from SMU — especially David Miller, the chairman of the board of trustees, began reaching out to representatives from the Pac-12, the Big 12 and the ACC.

“You have to feel good about where we’re at,” an SMU official said in July 2022.

Things have changed a lot since then. The Pac-12 is on the brink of demise, the Big 12 has already added eight other schools and now the Atlantic Coast Conference could be ready to broaden, as well.

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SMU, according to multiple people familiar with the situation, has been on the short list of expansion candidates for the ACC for quite some time.

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The ACC, according to Yahoo! Sports, may be targeting SMU.

One person familiar with the situation theorized that SMU’s potential entrance to the ACC could be connected with the possibility of other expansion candidates. ACC officials have discussed adding Cal and Stanford, according to multiple reports.

SMU leaders have been internally optimistic, even outwardly cautious, about their realignment hopes over the last year. It accelerated when Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff visited SMU’s campus for a basketball game in early February.

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After that, SMU to the Pac-12, along with San Diego State, seemed a matter of when, not if. That is, as long as the Pac-12 stayed alive.

Since then, Colorado defected. After that, Oregon and Washington left for the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State and Utah departed for the Big 12.

The remaining four Pac-12 schools have been the topic of expansion and merging with multiple conferences, according to reports.

There are a lot of factors at play at the moment.

“Everyone is talking to everyone,” one person familiar with SMU’s realignment status said.

Now everyone is waiting for the next move to happen. Could it be SMU getting an invite to a Power Five conference?

As SMU fans have done for over a year now: It’s time to wait and see.

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