Is the Nebraska football going to have a new conference rival in the Big Ten in the near future? There are plenty of analysts who believe the Seminoles will be joining the club sooner rather than later. However, don’t count Paul Finebaum among them. In fact, he believes that even if FSU asks for entry, it would be told no.
On a recent show, Finebaum went into depth on why he believes that should Florida State finally be able to leave the ACC, they’d be turned down by the Big Ten. And for the ESPN analyst, it comes down to academics.
"They don't fit the Big Ten model. The Big Ten, I believe, other than Nebraska, has highly accredited schools, and I don't think Florida State really qualifies for that."
Nebraska football could be getting a rival even if Paul Finebaum doesn’t think so
Finebaum was talking about AAU accreditation most likely when he was talking about the “model.” He is right that the Nebraska Cornhuskers are the only school in the conference that aren’t part of the AAU anymore.
Of course the Huskers are working to rectify that.
It’s also true that Florida State is not a member of the AAU. Only South Florida and the Florida Gators are in that organization. But it’s clear that the Seminoles want to join. They tried and failed last year. They will likely try again.
The Nebraska football team also gives the Big Ten some cover if it really want Florida State to join. There’s also the fact that outside of AAU membership, FSU is a pretty decent academic school.
According to the latest issues of US News & World Report, the Seminoles are ranked 53rd as far as academic schools go. That would have them about 8th in the Big Ten at the moment.
Unless AAU is the end all and be all, and that seems unlikely in this era of expansion, academics won’t keep Florida State out.