Dabo Swinney predicts Super Conference end game for college football

Conference realignment continues to take place throughout college football, with Oregon and Washington being the latest schools on the move. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has been following along with everyone else and believes that this is just the start of the movement.

Swinney was asked about conference realignment and where Clemson fits in on Friday afternoon during his press conference ahead of the start of fall camp.

“I mean honestly it’s just the next domino to where it’s all going. It just is what it is,” Swinney said.

Swinney doesn’t have an opinion on when it will happen, but eventually he believes there will be a Super Conference will all of the top college football programs from around the country.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be this year or midseason or next year or three years from now. But eventually we’re going to have an, I don’t know. I don’t know what the number is, it’ll be 40, 50, 54 teams, something like that. And it’s going to be a 14 or 16-team playoff type of deal. That’s where it’s going to be,” Swinney said. “And it’s going to be whatever you want to call it. I don’t know what the league’s going to be called or what the divisions or whatever. But that’s where it’s gonna go eventually. So there just seems to be these steps going there.”

The most recent step occurred on Friday as news broke that Oregon and Washington are expected to join the Big Ten. Those two are leaving the conference, as is Colorado, which is on the way to the Big 12.

There is plenty of speculation and some reports that more teams could be gone, too. According to Brett McMurphy, Arizona State and Utah are “showing interest” in the Big 12.

McMurphy added that Arizona has already applied for membership to the Big 12, but the Big 12 is also “exploring its options” with Oregon and Washington off to the Big Ten.

While Swinney is following along with everything, his main focus right now is getting his team ready to play. The Tigers open the season on Sept. 4 at Duke with a new offensive coordinator in Garrett Riley and a new quarterback in Cade Klubnik.

“It’s a lot going on, man, for sure,” Swinney said. “Obviously the administrators, they’ve got a lot happening out there. My job is to get the team ready to play. I mean that’s my job. I don’t get caught up in all that stuff.”