DeFilippo’s quote got a lot of traction yesterday and today and, not surprisingly, he’s getting out in front of it:  “I spoke inappropriately and erroneously regarding ESPN’s role in conference expansion.” He said it was wrong of him to “express personal feelings” that people might have read to be the position of the school and the conference … and, while he didn’t say it, also ESPN.

The Boston College athletic director, who has now been in the thick of two expansion episodes, recently said something a lot of other people have said. Specifically, DeFilippo said television is driving expansion … but then he added an interesting detail.

“We always keep our television partners close to us,’’ he said. “You don’t get extra money for basketball. It’s 85 percent football money. TV – ESPN – is the one who told us what to do. This was football; it had nothing to do with basketball.’’

Somehow, the conversation allowed that to be left at that and there was neither a follow-up nor a presence of context. It might have been a part of a larger quote. It might be irresponsible of me to make too much out of it. It might also say exactly what it says — that ESPN “told” the ACC to go after Pitt and Syracuse. (Then again, maybe the ACC asked ESPN for advice and ESPN said, “If we were you …”)

This is worth mentioning because a while back the Big East Conference turned down a television deal because there was an opinion among representatives of some schools that the conference could do better when it arrived at the time to formally renegotiate at the end of the contract. Remember, this is what a lot of people want to blame Pitt A.D. Steve Pedersen for, but I’ve heard several times there was more than one voice in that conversation. Still, you see the accusation and implication.

So, too, did this fella, a fella who has been around here for a while, a fella who makes a case for making a case against collusion and tortious interference.