UPDATE (11:56 PM EASTERN) – ACC Conference call at 930AM to announce SU and Pitt being admitted to the league.

Finally, the charade at Syracuse University is over, the Orange are headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference.  What should have happened in 2003 when the ACC was looking to expand, Syracuse got cold feet at the last second, and Governor Mark Warner of Virginia made the ACC and Virginia Tech and offer it could not refuse (a lawsuit).

Now 8 years later, Syracuse went on the offensive knowing they needed a seat in a stable athletic conference before all the seats were taken.  The future of college football is 4 or 5 conferences with 16 teams, and with the remaining 9 Big 12 teams plus the 11 teams in the Big East, it was time to pull the rip cord before it was too late.

Ironically it was the Big East and the Big 12 Conferences who blocked the idea of a college playoff a few years ago, now, essentially, these conferences will cease to exist.  While it is sad for the basketball fan in me to see the conference go away, the football conference has been embarrassing since Miami and VaTech left in 2004.

Reports are saying that Syracuse and Pitt, who also formally applied to the ACC, will be formally accepted as early as tomorrow.  Talking to two people in the know at the ACC, admission is really just a formality, and it appears others are hearing the same thing.

While some alumni and fans may hate this decision, and we all know that money is driving it, Syracuse is doing the right thing by taking control of their future.