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Clark: FSU-UF needs to be preserved even in shortened season

When the Big Ten announced earlier this week that it was going to a conference-only schedule, reports immediately surfaced that the ACC would soon follow.

That hasn't happened. Yet.

But the Pac-12 jumped on board Friday evening, and there's good reason to believe that all Power 5 conferences will eventually follow suit and decide to put non-conference games on ice for a year.

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Former FSU receiver/defensive back Ermon Lane shows off a 'gator head after a Seminoles victory in Gainesville.
Former FSU receiver/defensive back Ermon Lane shows off a 'gator head after a Seminoles victory in Gainesville. (Gene Williams / Warchant.com)

And while I understand the thinking behind that approach -- having a single entity controlling testing, scheduling, postponements, protocols, etc., instead of having to hope schools like Samford and Boise State follow similar guidelines and don't infect your players -- I think we all agree that any FSU football schedule still needs to have the University of Florida on it.

I know beggars can't be choosers. And right now, as we watch the positive cases continue to skyrocket in our own state and others, there's no guarantee there will be any season at all in the Fall. So, trust me, I'll take what I can get. We all will.

But the ACC and SEC are in a different predicament than the other major conferences. They each have four teams with a MAJOR rival in another conference. Think about it: Oklahoma and Texas are in the same conference. So are Michigan and Ohio State, Arizona and Arizona State, Washington and Washington State and on and on and on.

So if those conferences keep all games in-house, so to speak, those teams don't lose their biggest games of the year.

But Florida State-Florida is different. So is, to a lesser extent, Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech and (bringing up the rear) Louisville-Kentucky.

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If a season is played this fall, these rivalries need to be preserved. Especially the Seminoles and the Gators.

It's truly one of the great rivalries in all of sports. I'm still dumbfounded, in fact, that there hasn't been a documentary on the teams' 1990s battles -- when they met 12 times, twice in Sugar Bowls, and were incredibly both ranked in the Top 10 ALL 12 TIMES!

I don't envy the situation these conference commissioners are in. This season is going to be unlike any we've ever seen -- with stands either empty or mostly empty (insert Miami Hurricanes joke here).

But that doesn't mean the ACC can't try -- as best as possible -- to take care of the program that is more responsible than any other for legitimizing it as a Power 5 football conference over the last three decades.

Here's my concern: The easy decision is to say every conference team is going to play nine or 10 conference games. And that's the schedule. That's it.

After all, what are you going to do? Have every team play nine games but then four others get to play a 10th game against an out-of-conference opponent?

The athletics director at Pitt or Boston College might get annoyed by that.

To which the first reply could rightly be: Tough.

And then this: Florida State and Clemson have made a whole bunch of money for this conference, they have two VERY important in-state games they want to play, and we're going to make sure they get every opportunity to play them.

This is what I hope. That the will is there to make this a reality.

We all know where the ACC is headquartered. We all understand that it's North Carolina-centric -- especially when it comes to hosting conference tournaments. But North Carolina and Duke and North Carolina State don't sacrifice anything if non-conference games are taken away. They don't have anybody out of conference who gives a flip about playing them. They don't play non-conference games that anyone outside of that triangle cares about. Ever.

So, yeah, they'll be perfectly happy sticking to a conference-only slate. They still get their rivalry games (and I use that term loosely when it comes to football).

Meanwhile, if the ACC adopts a strict policy on playing conference games only, Florida State sacrifices its biggest game of the year. Even though the team it would be playing would involve the least amount of travel (Florida could bus up the day of the game if need be), and a program that will almost certainly have the same type of testing and safety protocols as Florida State.

But hey, whatever, let's play Syracuse instead!

I know this is not the top priority right now. I know it's not even clear what the ACC is planning to do moving forward. But if -- and it's still an "if" at this point -- the conference goes ahead with league games only, then I hope they can work with the SEC to figure this out. And make sure the games that mean so much to so many people are actually played.

Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.

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