Florida State plays California today in an ACC football showdown. ... Wait, what?

That's right, the Atlantic Coast Conference now spans from sea to shining sea. Stanford played Syracuse on Friday night in the first conference game featuring the new teams of the ACC. Tonight is Cal's first ACC game in what's sure to have college football purists scratching their heads.

The ACC expanded from 14 to 17 teams before the 2024 college football season, having added Stanford, Cal and SMU amid the biggest swath of conference realignment since 2013. The movement of the summer of 2023 saw the end of the Pac-12 as we knew it and the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC explore new geographical areas.

Here's what you need to know about conference realignment, starting with the basics:

Is Cal part of the ACC?

Yes. As of August 2, California is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Just let that sink in.

They're not the only school in the Golden State that's now part of the ACC, either. Cal's archrival Stanford also joined the ACC this season, along with SMU from Texas. They all announced moves to the ACC on September 1, 2023, the final pieces of a seismic shift in conference realignment.

An important note: Florida State was one of the schools to vote against the teams' admission into the ACC. FSU has been in a legal fight with the ACC over the conference's media rights deal and revenue-distribution model, and officials said last year that bringing in those three teams didn't solve the issues.

Why did Cal move to the ACC? What conference was Cal in before ACC?

Stanford and Cal left for the ACC when the Pac-12 Conference crumbled. That process started in 2022, when longtime conference stalwarts Southern California and UCLA announced they were leaving to join the Big Ten and the $8 billion TV deal the conference signed.

That move kicked off a wave of conference realignment across the country as most of the rest of the Pac-12 found new homes. On July 27, 2023, Colorado announced it was leaving for the Big 12. The following week, Arizona applied to follow suit. The next day, August 4, everything went mad. Oregon and Washington said they would join USC and UCLA in the Big Ten, and Arizona State and Utah jumped to the Big 12.

The Pac-12 dissolving left four major conferences for any other teams to join. The two with the most prestige and richest media deals, the Big Ten and SEC, seemed content with their current rosters (Oklahoma and Texas had previously decided to move from the Big 12 to the SEC). The ACC became Stanford and Cal's best fit after the Arizona teams gave the Big 12 a hold in the West Coast market.

What happened to the Pac-12?

Each move was set to take effect for the 2024 college football season. That left Oregon State and Washington State as the only teams left in the Pac-12 for this season. They're still playing makeshift schedules while maintaining their traditional rivalries: Last week, Oregon and Oregon State faced off, and Wazzou even defeated Washington in the Apple Cup.

The Pac-12 is making a comeback now, though, with Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State set to join in 2026 and more expected.

How many teams are in the ACC in 2024?

With the addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU, the ACC is up to 17 full-time teams:

• Boston College

• California

• Clemson

• Duke

• Florida State

• Georgia Tech

• Louisville

• Miami

• North Carolina

• NC State

• Pittsburgh

• SMU

• Stanford

• Syracuse

• Virginia

• Virginia Tech

• Wake Forest

Notre Dame also competes as part of the ACC in sports apart from football.

How much money will Cal get in the ACC?

As is typical for teams switching conferences, Cal will receive only a partial share of revenue for a few years. According to The Associated Press, Cal will get a 30% share over the next seven years, 70% in year 8 and 75% in year 9 before getting a full share for the final three years of the conference's current deal with ESPN. A full share is estimated at about $25 million per year.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Cal football in ACC: Conference realignment explained