Why Would the B1G Do This?!

First reported by Brett McMurphy, Oregon & Washington are being added to the B1G
conference in 2024. In my 44 years on Earth, the conference has almost doubled in its size.

No matter your thoughts on the addition of Penn State (1990), Nebraska (2011), or Maryland &
Rutgers (2014), THIS is incredible to think about!

I know the question MANY are asking, “Why in the world would a Midwest conference bring in
four schools from the PAC conference?”
It’s difficult to make a connection as to how this is the direction the B1G conference decided to
go, but I’m going to give it a whirl!

Does it “make sense” that USC, UCLA, Oregon, & Washington are joining the conference?
Geographically, no… but if you’re a Big 10 “traditionalist,” don’t these 4 joining make SOME
semblance of sense in a crazy world of college sports?

Think about what the B1G is adding with these four joining the conference.

All-Time History
Out loud, let’s name some of the ALL-TIME great college football programs… Alabama, Ohio St,
Notre Dame (we’ll come back to that one), Navy (really old school!), Texas, USC… there it is!
Yes, you can name more, and maybe some were said before USC in your mind, but you can’t
deny that, historically, the University of Southern California is one of college football’s greatest
programs.

How about naming off some of the ALL-TIME great college basketball programs… Kentucky,
North Carolina, Indiana (although lately not so great), Duke, Kansas, UCLA… there it is, again!
Yep, the University of California in Los Angeles might have come quicker or further down on
your list, but you cannot argue they are one of the best all-time in college basketball!

New States Not Already in the Conference
This is a pretty easy one! My co-host on B1G Talk, Dalton Shetler, has stated many times that
the conference looks for a few things when looking to add a new school. First and foremost, “Do
they reside in a state that the conference doesn’t already inhabit?” They didn’t reside in
Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Maryland, or New Jersey/NYC before adding in the four schools
mentioned at the start of this article, so they all “made sense.” These four new add-ons bring in
three new states to have B1G coverage in!

Moves the Needle
This one is the least impressive of my points, but it STILL is relevant!

USC is a college football blue blood, and no, you cannot argue that. They have a DEEP history,
and they have multiple National Championships to show they are! Not to mention they have
been to MANY Rose Bowls which is the old form of a successful season before playoffs began.
They are starting to make more noise in the CFB world since they went away for a few years
into the dark abyss of mediocrity, but they were one win away from the CFP last year. I think it’s
safe to say that they will be better than what they have shown in the past few years.

UCLA has won the most NCAA National Championships in college basketball history, they ARE
blue blood! Yes, I know there have been some bad years, but they are back to performing well,
and have won a national championship in my lifetime, and have been to multiple Final Fours in
my life. I think it’s safe to say that they will be good going forward, as well! Not to mention,
they’ve been to a good amount of Rose Bowls in the past.

Washington has won National Championships in football, been to the CFP, and was in the
Rose Bowl many times when I was growing up! They’ve also been to the Sweet 16, and Elite
Eight, if memory serves, in basketball.

Oregon has been to the Rose Bowl, CFP, Sweet 16, and Elite Eight in the past, as well! They
haven’t won a National Championship, but they are constantly being looked at as a top-tier
team, most years, in the PAC conference.

Historical Connection To the Big Ten

It was mentioned, for all four of these teams that they have made Rose Bowl appearances. If
you know anything about the Rose Bowl and “old-time” bowl games, this historically was a
game played by the PAC conference champion & the Big Ten champion. SO, let’s connect the
dots! These teams would historically play a Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl!
The only time, in my lifetime, that Purdue has played in Pasadena was the 2001 Rose Bowl.
Drew Brees and the Boilermakers played Marques Tuiasosopo and the Washington Huskies.
There’s a connection. The only other time Purdue has played in the Rose Bowl? They play USC
in the 1967 version!
The first time I remember watching Oregon playing on national TV was January 2, 1996, when
they played Penn St. in the Rose Bowl. UCLA & Wisconsin have had Rose Bowl battles that are
FANTASTIC!
The connection between these teams and the Big Ten conference runs deep! I almost forgot to
mention, the great UCLA legend, John Wooden went to a Big Ten school (Purdue)!

What They Can Bring To the Big Ten
What do these schools bring to the conference?
USC & UCLA bring the Los Angeles TV market! The second largest market in the country, and it
now will have wall-to-wall B1G coverage. That now gives the conference a presence in five of
the top 12 TV markets in the country (1. NYC-Rutgers; 2. LA-USC/UCLA; 3.
Chicago-Northwestern; 8. Washington D.C.-Maryland; 12. Seattle-Washington). No other
conference can claim a better list!

Let’s think about Oregon, for a minute. What comes to mind when one thinks of Oregon
football? Yes, they normally have a good product, on the field, but I would be pressed to say
anything before THE UNIFORMS! They have 52,361 different uniforms (yes, that’s
exaggerated), and they are always trying something new! Why? Well… if you have been under
a rock for a while, they have Nike as their sponsor. Phil Knight is an Oregon grad and he
LOVES to pour money into trying new things with the Ducks’ unis! This can mean something for
the conference. There is an outside chance Nike could become the main sponsor to many of the
B1G schools, thus flushing them with athletic money!

More To Come
There hasn’t been anything that suggests this, at least that I’ve seen recently, but I think there is
most certainly more to come!
I’ve had conversations with people who agree with the premise or have outright disagreed, but I
think these four schools being added will draw more schools to the conference, and possibly
very soon.
I said I would revisit Notre Dame earlier in this article. The Irish have made it very well-known
they love and intend on keeping their football independence. They have had loose alliances with
conferences where their sports, other than football, are part of the conference, but football
remains independent (Big East & ACC). It allows the football team to schedule anyone they
want to play and have no conference schedule to worry about while doing so! Their most recent
alliance DOES require them to play a certain amount of teams from the ACC, but they don’t
compete as a conference team, they are still able to schedule most of their schedule with whom
they want to schedule.
With the expansion of the Big 12, to 16 teams, and the B1G going to now 18 teams, I don’t think
this is done yet. Although there is a media deal, and the buyout is outrageous, many ACC
schools are not happy with their current setup! There is also a conference that’s adding Texas &
Oklahoma, SEC, soon will more than likely be interested in adding a few more “big
fish” to their conference.
If the ACC schools figure out a way to get out of the conference and jump to one of the
expanding conferences (SEC included), that doesn’t bode well for the Golden Domers, because
it ain’t gonna be the lower-level ACC schools that jump first. It will be Clemson, Miami, Florida
St., and so on down the list and that will take those potential schedule fillers from Notre Dame.
I do not think, with this conference expansion, the conferences will be happy with the eight or
nine-game conference schedule. They will want more conference games! I can see a
conference giving each team one, MAYBE two, out-of-conference games. This will make it even
more difficult for Notre Dame to schedule quality opponents that will make them stand out in the
CFP rankings.
Let’s take Purdue for instance. Let’s say in 2025, the B1G has said they will allow schools to
schedule two out-of-conference games. Purdue’s B1G schedule contains Wisconsin, Michigan,
Ohio St., USC, Oregon, Penn St., Washington, Iowa, Michigan St., and IU. Do you think they will
want to schedule Notre Dame as a non-conference game?
Yes, yes, I know, “Why would NOTRE DAME want to play Purdue?”
I picked Purdue because they’re MY team, but put ANY team in that role where the conference
schedule is what I put there, and ask the same question I posed.

If Notre Dame joins the B1G, they would then be able to have some traditional rivalries restored
and they would be built into the conference schedule! They have traditional rivalries with
multiple current B1G schools and ONE that’s coming!
Think about a Thanksgiving weekend where Michigan plays Ohio St. and Notre Dame plays
USC, with the winners going to the B1G Championship game! That makes for a HUGE B1G
weekend, and at the very least it bolsters the rivalry weekend!
I’m convinced that if Notre Dame doesn’t join a conference they will be left behind in the
direction that college football is headed. I think it makes the most sense that they would join the
B1G because of their history with the conference. I think with the changing of the guard, at AD,
and with them not being COMPLETELY oblivious to the changes happening, they will surrender
(kicking and screaming) and finally join a conference with their football team. After a few years,
it won’t even be noticed because they will see the benefits very quickly, and they will be fine and
see the world did not end with them joining a conference. If they don’t join a conference and
still hold onto the Independence Bag they love so greatly, they will turn into what Navy is… a
school that has a rich history, but doesn’t compete on the same level as they used to!

This is A LOT of change to take in all at once! It really is, and it spins my brain around in 34
different directions, but when I really sit and think about it, it doesn’t surprise me! Money is the
driving factor in 98% of things taking place. When I’m able to embrace, not be happy with, this
fact, I can see the validity of the conferences doing what they are doing! It’s a free-for-all and
they are getting the schools that will give them the best opportunities to be successful on and off
the field!
It’s going to be WILD to see how everything plays out in the next couple of years. This is going
to be a historic shift in what college sports look like, and it’s not just the move to a 12-team college playoff!