REALIGNMAGEDDON: What's about to happen to the ACC???

Did this guy just pull the pin on the grenade?

Jamie Oakes of Wahoos 247 is the best, most-plugged in source for UVA recruiting, and he is a guy I have really come to respect through his years in objectively covering the Hoos we love so dearly.

When recently pressed for his opinion on the most recent round of REALIGNMAGEDDON rumblings, this is what Jamie had to say:

"Here is the Cliffs Notes version: If Notre Dame doesn't bail out the ACC, the Big XII will raid. If the Big XII raids, they don't want UVa. UVa is not interested in the SEC. With the ACC no longer viable, it's B1G or bust."

A Notre Dame fan growing up, Jamie added this:

"Notre Dame is going to do what's best for Notre Dame. All options are on the table right now. They could go to the B12, ACC, or B1G. It's the piece that needs to go into motion to truly set up the finish to this puzzle."

Know this, my friends and fellow Wahoo fans: This shit is about to get real.

Please save us, Touchdown Jesus.

Without an Irish Miracle, the ACC is going to lose FSU, probably Clemson, maybe Virginia Tech and NC State, and maybe Maryland.  What's left will be a blasted-out shell of a football conference: BC, Syracuse, Pitt, UVA, UNC, Duke, Wake, GT, and Miami.

I'm of the opinion that the ACC needs to bend and contort its revenue sharing model and do whatever it takes to keep Florida State and to attract Notre Dame... be it full tier three freedom, uneven revenue sharing (do FSU and Wake really deserve the same conference payday? Really?), or whatever it takes to set this right and save its viability.  It has to find a seat at the table for the college football playoffs, no matter what it takes.  But do I have confidence in John Swofford and the ACC institutions to do a little whoring in the name of good football?  No, I absolutely do not.  It's an old guard kind of conference finding itself at a crossroads in a modern-era money grab.  The ACC won't be bold enough to survive intact.

Is this what the ACC will look like?

Predicting UVA's move in all of this, I think we will go down with the ship in the ACC. Or - if the opportunity is presented and given the fact that we have a president who once presided over a B1G school - Virginia will choose the path that leads them to a stable football conference that offers the best academic partnerships. That's the B1G.  But the B1G is full of huge, land-grant research schools.  Not a perfect fit for UVA.

To some extent, I think our wagon is hitched to UNC's.  It's our oldest rival, and the school with which we share the most in common.  The problem with that is that Carolina is ACC to the core, and will absolutely go down with the sinking ship.  I just hope UVA is willing to jump ship at the right time, especially if the B1G lifeboat cruises past at the last moment.

Mostly, I just hope we don't end up in a bombed-out football wasteland like the current Big East dumpster slut.  But even if we do, it's not like UVA will just give up and fold its football program. There are many paths to football relevance, and ours might be through the process of earning 8, 9, 10+ wins every season in a watered-down football conference, similar to the path TCU just walked from the Mountain West into the Big XII.

Was our trail blazed by the Frogs?

I don't pretend to know what will happen, but I can promise you that I am reading and digesting everything that's out there, every single morsel.  I can and will be your guide through this REALIGNMAGEDDON madness, always confident that UVA will come out in decent shape and at least in a position to earn its own success on the field of play.