Judge assigned to the FSU lawsuit vs. ACC has Florida State ties

Florida State alumnus Judge John C. Cooper was assigned the case pitting the FSU Board of Trustees versus the ACC, according to Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times.

The university’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Friday to file a legal complaint in Tallahassee circuit court against the ACC. It alleges the ACC’s grant-of-rights agreement and associated withdrawal penalties violate Florida antitrust law, represent an unenforceable penalty and that the ACC committed breach of contract with respect to its fiduciary duties.

Having an alumnus as the judge is certainly an interesting look on the surface. Many assumptions could be made when it comes to the eventual outcome of the case.

This all stems from the College Football Playoff selection where a 13-0 ACC champion Florida State was left out of the final four. When you have that discussion, some can say the ACC is at fault because the Big Ten and SEC have more “oomph,” for lack of a better term.

If Florida State is successful in their lawsuit against the ACC, and the conference won’t let them go without a fight, the Seminoles could be free to go wherever they please.

With that in mind, ESPN’s Andrea Adelson joined College Football Live to explain her belief that the Big Ten would be the program’s desired destination.

“I can tell you one place they’re not going to go, and that’s independent,” Adelson proclaimed. “It’s not just financially feasible for Florida State to be an independent. So scratch that off that list. That really leaves two main options, the Big Ten or the SEC. I think the Florida State folks would be leaning towards the Big Ten, because they can get the Big Ten into the State of Florida. It’s a market in the South that they don’t have yet.”

Basically, Florida State could offer something to the Big Ten that the conference doesn’t have at the moment. And with it, they’d level it out with the SEC.

“Yeah, they’ve got the East Coast and the West Coast, but the don’t have the South,” Adelson said. “(FSU President) Richard McCullough came from Harvard. He’s working really hard to get AAU designation, which I think just about every Big Ten school has. That’s extremely important to him. They want to be able to do that, if that can make them more attractive to the Big Ten. But again, there’s no invitation.

“Would they say no to the SEC? Obviously not. But I think because the SEC already has Florida, they feel like working the Big Ten could potentially be the best option for their future.”

Stephen Samra contributed to this report