You nailed it: Reality is sinking in.
FSU has to dance around ESPN and thus has placed all responsibility on the ACC hoping that ESPN will forgive and forget.
However, FSU is demanding that ESPN's property, a profitable property, must be sacrificed for FSU. FSU is not worth losing the entire ACC. If the ACC was losing money like the LHN did, sure, ESPN would be inclined to walk away or facilitate an exit. But the ACC is profitable, which means each school adds some value and FSU is not quite the value they think they are.
Further, no one has laid out a reasonable basis for ESPN dumping the ACC. Not just a surface basis, bit a business, strategical, purposeful, well thought-out basis for ESPN to walk away from the ACC
I don't have the link, but it appears that ESPN and the ACC are in a "look-in" period.
All combined, FSU's AD is not business savvy nor is he a forward thinker in any manner. He is just an ambulance chaser that makes a lot of money. He is in way over his head in a business in which he knows nothing. He lacks tact, clout, credibility, and wisdom.