Georgia Football: ACC Expansion Puts Bulldogs' Series with Clemson in Jeopardy

The conference expansions arms race has produced some unwanted side effects, most notably the cancellation of scheduled out-of-conference games like Florida State vs. West Virginia.  

Could the Georgia vs. Clemson series in 2013 and 2014 be added to that list?  It appears to be possible, according to Seth Emerson of The Macon Telegraph.

The ACC has already announced that it intends to move to a nine-game conference schedule once Syracuse and Pittsburgh join the conference; and the SEC is still deciding how to format its long-term conference schedule now that Texas A&M and Missouri are on board. 

This was bound to happen.

Top-tier out-of-conference games are bound to be a casualty of expansion, especially when both Clemson and Georgia already have annual out-of-conference rivalries scheduled with South Carolina and Georgia Tech, respectively.  

Clemson doesn't know when Syracuse and Pitt will officially join the conference, so don't blame the Tigers for looking to opt out of the contract.  A nine-game ACC schedule plus games against SEC foes Georgia and South Carolina isn't something that any athletic director wants, especially Clemson AD Terry Don Phillips, whose football program is known for letdowns.

Fans from outside the south will undoubtedly ridicule Clemson and Georgia for not wanting to schedule tough out-of-conference games.  Don't let them.  

If this series gets cancelled, it'll be a byproduct of conference expansion, not fear of competition.