Drew Dalman is intrigued by Stanford joining the ACC, but for way different reasons

College football is big business. It is a primary impetus as to why the Pac-12 collapsed and the Power Five became the Power Four. With the Four Corner Universities going to the Big 12 and Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington going to the Big Ten, we tend to forget that Cal and Stanford are joining the ACC, along with former Group of Five contender SMU. They play in the All Coast Conference now.

When I was speaking with Atlanta Falcons center and former Stanford Cardinal star Drew Dalman last weekend on behalf of CoolMitt on The Blogging Dirty Podcast for FanSided, I could not help myself. I know it is a Falcons' centric podcast and he plays for the NFL team I cover most closely, but I am a massive college football fan. It is my No. 1. I had a feeling Dalman had some thoughts on the move.

While Dalman was sad the Pac-12 had to go away, as well as having concerns about travel, I appreciate the fact that he was able to look at the bright side when it came to joining the ACC.

"As a childhood fan, I grew up watching that conference when it was the Pac-10 and Pac-12, and all that. So there is some amount of nostalgia for that that I will miss. But yeah, I'm excited for the team. My primary thing I think about is just how much travel it is, which I'm sure that's discussed plenty. So we don't need to get into that."

He really wants to see the Cardinal play Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd, which would be a cool rivalry.

"I don't think it's on the schedule this year, but I'm really looking forward to when they play at Georgia Tech, so I can get down there and watch the game, which will be interesting. There'll be a lot of fun matchups that will come from it. So yeah, I'm excited to see how it all plays out."

Here is the entire YouTube video from my interview with Dalman on behalf of CoolMitt for FanSided.

One thing that immediately jumps out from the quote is it sounds like Dalman wants to stay in Atlanta.

Atlanta Falcons center Drew Dalman discusses Stanford joining the ACC

The self-awareness Dalman showed to recognize that pretty much everyone on the face of the earth in the college football world has thoughts about the Pac-12 ending and the sheer amount of travel all 17 teams are going to have to endure was astounding to me. Dalman looked for the positive in all of this, which I appreciated. To me, it further illustrates how much optimism there is in Flowery Branch.

Of the top of my head, I don't know how the ACC is going to configure its scheduling format in a 17-team league with no divisions. I would assume Stanford will play Cal annually, forever going forward. Although the Yellow Jackets have plenty of rivals in the conference (Clemson, Virginia Tech, UNC, etc.), Georgia Tech is a prestigious academic institution in Atlanta, just like Stanford is in Palo Alto.

In response to Dalman's answer about Stanford going to the ACC, and conference realignment in general, I mentioned that another ACC school in Clemson is not all that far away. It straddles the Georgia/South Carolina border. The other ACC schools may be a tad too far away for Dalman to get to a game in-season, but there is a chance the three new additions could make it work in the new ACC.

I cannot wait for Dalman to have friendly wagers on Stanford-Clemson games with Grady Jarrett.

Drew Dalman spoke with FanSided over on The Blogging Dirty Podcast on behalf of CoolMitt.