Miami’s president grabbed the gift horse by the jowls and looked it square in the mouth.

I hope you know what you’re doing, pal.

It’s no secret Miami would consider leaving the ACC for greener pastures, but university president Joe Echevarria recently revealed the full extent of Miami’s realignment thirstiness. In an interview with Yahoo Sports, he lusted over the Big Ten and SEC and even mentioned the possibility of going independent.

“We sit in the second tier,” Echevarria told Yahoo Sports.

Et tu, Echevarria?

Does nobody see the ACC for what it is? That is, a chance to wallop Stanford and Pittsburgh and make the playoff for doing it.

Look what Miami’s place within that “second tier” has produced: a No. 1 national ranking.

The ACC’s schedule is the gift horse “the U” does not seem to fully appreciate.

Is Big Ten or SEC really worth it when Miami can rule from ACC?

I understand the appeal of the Big Ten or the SEC. Those conferences generate more media rights revenue, greater exposure, and a superior conference brand. Affiliation with those leagues can help boost a university’s enrollment. SEC football, in particular, serves as a marketing pitch each Saturday for its member universities.

But, joining the Big Ten or the SEC ought to come with a surgeon’s general warning: This conference might be bad for your heart, and brutal for your record.

Ask Oklahoma about leveling up. The Sooners won the Big 12 six years in a row from 2015-20. They’re currently unranked, saddled with three losses. S-E-C! S-E-C!

Arkansas has been cashing SEC checks since leaving the Southwest Conference more than 30 years ago. All of that revenue can pay the buyouts of the football program’s wasteland of failed coaches.

How many conference titles and playoff appearances has Arkansas accumulated since joining the SEC’s crucible in 1992? Let me get my calculator. Wait, I don’t need it: Zero.

More money, more losses.

Now, let’s do that exercise for Nebraska, which left the Big 12 for the Big Ten 15 years ago. Same answer: Zero conference titles or playoff bids.

Maryland and Rutgers? Zero. They’re Big Ten roadkill.

Southern Cal? Zero.

The Trojans spontaneously combust whenever they fly to the Central or Eastern Time Zones. That’s problematic, because most Big Ten road games occur in those time zones.

Washington reached the national championship game in its final Pac-12 season, before the Huskies’ exit helped destroy that conference as we knew it. In 2½ seasons in its new digs, UW’s record in Big Ten games is 10-12.

But, hey, congrats on that Big Ten jersey patch, and enjoy those road trips to College Park, Maryland!

Sure, some success stories emerge. UCLA is enjoying a Big Ten uprising. Missouri didn’t lose any ground after moving from the Big 12 to the SEC. Oregon won the Big Ten in its first season.

On the whole, though, pain accompanies a call-up to a “Super Two” conference. Why should Miami seek out that struggle, when it can win a national championship from the ACC’s launchpad while playing an easier schedule that allows the Hurricanes to be in full sprint when the playoff arrives?

Miami football isn't getting left behind. It's gaining strength

Spare me the arguments of a B1G-SEC breakaway. If a super league ever forms, expect private equity to run it, not conference muckety-mucks. Brands like Notre Dame and Miami aren’t going to be left out of the Private Equity College Football Super League.

Amid Echevarria’s pining to Yahoo Sports, he said Miami’s institution aligns “with the Big Ten's profile” and fits geographically with the SEC.

Nebraska also once thought it aligned with Big Ten’s profile and geography. Now, it’s losing conference games in Eugene, Oregon, while memories fade of the Huskers’ glory days.

Here's an idea: Don't like the ACC? Forget the Big Ten, and form a new conference. Team up with Florida State, Clemson, SMU, North Carolina, Duke, Louisville and one or two others from the ACC, and ditch the riff-raff. Call it the ACC Minus the Dregs. Has a certain ring to it. Notre Dame needs opponents. Form a scheduling alliance with the Irish.

In the meantime, Miami is feasting, but apparently not appreciating how good it has it.

While LSU fights to make the playoff with a November hellscape that includes Alabama, Texas and Tennessee in succession, Miami will close against Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College.

That, folks, is what a gift horse looks like.

Miami proved in last season’s playoff it could hang with the SEC or the Big Ten. But, a step up in conference scheduling affects a program’s ability to maintain consistency.

Penn State went from the playoff semifinals to the coaching carousel in less than a year. Michigan, at warp speed, descended from national champions into a team that struggles to break 14 points. Texas A&M went from breakout team in 2025 to bust in ’26.

You sign up for life in the Big Ten or the SEC, you better brace for the year-over-year volatility.

Once the playoff expands to 24, Miami should be a shoo-in, so long as it keeps the ACC as its launch point, just as Notre Dame will be a near-automatic qualifier from the land of independence.

You know what that annual playoff bid brings? Money.

The Big Ten and SEC reap the rewards of richer television deals, but there’s more than one way to buy a transfer quarterback.

The ACC’s revenue distribution structure allows its playoff-qualifying teams to keep all of the payout they earn for playoff qualification and triumphs. In other words, the ACC’s playoff teams get to collect cash-prize payouts.

Within the SEC and Big Ten, playoff revenue is pooled and shared with conference peers that didn’t make the playoff.

The Hurricanes became the nation’s No. 1 team while playing in the “second tier.”

That shouldn’t be motivation to leave for the Big Ten or the SEC.

That’s reason to appreciate your gift horse.