When officials at the University of Miami and Virginia Tech called up officials at the offices of Atlantic Coast Conference and accepted the league’s invitation to become a member, the theory was that both schools would officially end the speculation surrounding who the ACC will go after, how and if they will get them and when they will join. That much was true. Many also thought their acceptance would mean that the saga that was and is ACC expansion would be put to bed. That much was not true.

In reality, these actions by Miami and Virginia Tech will merely be opening the floodgates.

While many have become wrapped up this spring and summer in the soap opera-like story of the ACC’s quest to add new members, it is likely that few truly realize what the real effects of such a move will be.

Yes, the talk has been of championship games, television contracts, BCS playoff entries and traveling costs, but all of that is in the future. What is quickly becoming clear in the present are the immediate effects of this campaign – a trail of bad blood that stretches from Boston to Miami, and clear across the heart of the country.

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