Paul Finebaum 'congratulates' the ACC for essentially voting out Clemson, Florida State and UNC

It was a big week for the ACC. The conference voted to add three new schools, SMU, Stanford, and Cal. Then, on the field, the conference got several marquee wins against the SEC, including North Carolina over South Carolina and Florida State over LSU.

It was while Paul Finebaum was talking about the South Carolina-North Carolina game on the Matt Barrie Show when he raised concerns about the conference’s decision to expand, arguing that it’s going to end with Florida State, Clemson, and North Carolina leaving the conference.

“What’s so fascinating about that game was North Carolina, the standard bearer of the ACC,” Paul Finebaum said. “And somebody sent me audio this morning of Carolina fans chanting, ‘SEC! SEC!’ Because there was a screenshot of Bubba Cunningham talking to Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner. Bubba is the athletic director. There is such a fissure right now in the ACC and, Matt, I know we’re reacting to games, but I just want to congratulate the ACC for essentially voting out Clemson, North Carolina, and Florida State.”

Several ACC schools have made it clear that they’re not happy with the conference’s media deal. Florida State has been particularly vocal, looking for a larger share of revenue.

Finebaum believes that the schools the ACC added are actually going to devalue the conference membership. This is going to be the force that pushes those other schools from the conference, as they look for a larger media deal.

“Because what happened Friday with [the] admission of SMU, Cal, and Stanford, they have essentially given those three a ticket out. That league, which was already teetering toward irrelevancy, has just taken on three schools that devalue an already discounted product even more, and that league is just heading toward the iceberg.”

Paul Finebaum says South Carolina laid an egg against North Carolina

Paul Finebaum walked away from watching South Carolina’s performance and was unimpressed. Unfortunately, for the Gamecocks, that could mean it’s going to be a long season.

“All offseason long, I’ve been hearing about this momentum from beating Tennessee and beating Clemson. And the Gamecocks just laid an egg. I mean they were manhandled,” Finebaum said.

“Not to ruin the Bloody Mary morning for Gamecock Nation even more…but, two weeks from yesterday, they go to Athens. Good luck to people trying to build that up, saying, ‘Oh, you know, these two teams, when they meet?’. No, no. South Carolina is going in there and hopes that Kirby Smart is in a good mood and not a bad mood.”