Those two schools were the best chance they had. Many PSU fans have been disillusioned with the Big10 for various reasons and the extra Sandusky punishment put down by the Big10 made things worse. PSU has always saw themselves as East Coast and The ACC has many East Coast schools.
NW is a small, highly acclaimed, private school who may seem out of place but fit right in with Duke, WF, BC, Pitt, and Miami. NW resides in the third largest DMA in America (Chicago) and located very close to ND.
Taking the state of Pennsylvania would cut off The Big 10 with its new East Coast members, much like taking UMD cut The ACC off from their new New England brethren. Planting a flag with an original member in a large DMA just might have enticed ESPN to start that ACC Network. ESPN just may have encouraged it. That's the rumor.
All of this being said, I really don't think this happened. ESPN is smarter than that. I have to believe the ACC is as well.
I am of the position that the ACC has many things going for them that Penn State isn't necessary to strengthen the conference, although ideal for certain schools. However, knowing how much they value football, I doubt they would have viewed playing BC, SU, Pitt as more important than playing Ohio State and Michigan. Plus having two schools as close neighbors helps their travel. I know there are a bunch of ACC fans who want to "get back" at the B1G for "stealing" Maryland. The difference here is the UMD admins wanted to change conferences, despite a lot of dissent from their fans at first, but the Penn State admins don't seem inclined to make a similar change.
I think the real issue here is too many college sports administrators depend on ESPN for guidance and, thus, give credence to the rumors of such type. This doesn't create good will among peer colleges and conferences. I would think those who are in the B1G understand as well. This is one reason I would support moving the American Athletic Conference to the P5, to create the P6. When the top conferences are at 14 members, there really is no more room for more schools. At some point, you want to play against the programs you have been familiar with the most, then play the best teams in your OOC schedule. I know the UConn fans are pissed at their current situation but hoping certain conferences dissolve for them to move up is counterproductive.
I like what the PAC did and created their own network to insure that their teams be seen by the fans, thereby reducing their reliance on third parties for exposure. The SEC went the opposite way and went full in with ESPN and CBS and now have to toe those networks' lines to be in their good graces. If the ACC had to do things all over again, I would have preferred the PAC model. At least we'd have our own network by now and not have to go to ESPNU or ESPN3 for games.
