When you look back at the history of college football many big-name programs come to mind: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, Alabama, Nebraska, and of course USC. These schools have a rich history of success both past and present. Now USC and UCLA look to continue to write their history in a new chapter called: The Big10.
It was announced earlier on June 30th, 2022 that both USC and UCLA intend to inform the Pac 12 that they are leaving and applying to join the Big10 conference. If you’re like me you may be asking “but why?” The answer: national recognition. Think of games such as USC at the Horseshoe vs Ohio State, traveling to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines, or dealing
with the pesky Iowa Hawkeyes. USC and UCLA will have more nationally recognized games now joining the Big 10 with those names as compared to the only slight national attraction of Oregon and Stanford.
They now have the best shot at getting into the College Football Playoffs. The Pac12 hasn’t been in the College Football Playoffs since 2016 with Washington losing in the Peach Bowl and hasn’t been in a national championship since 2014 when Oregon lost to Ohio State. USC is now on the upswing with the addition of Lincoln Riley and the recruits he brought with him to USC
and looks to bring back USC to prominence.
Looking at UCLA however, is a different story. They are 18 – 25 under Head Coach Chip Kelly with no bright future ahead of them. They did manage to get some quality wins last season against fellow conference teams such as number 19th ranked Washington State and beat Stanford for the first time since 2008. The Bruins will have a long road ahead of them in a conference like the Big 10.
What does this mean for the Big 10? Now they expand to both coasts and everything in the middle. With the addition of Maryland and Rutgers back in 2014 and now with USC and UCLA expecting to be added as soon as 2024 exactly 10 years later. The Big 10 will have a national wide influence as well as the other Big 10 teams can expand their recruitment more into the
West Coast whereas Ohio State and Michigan would reap those benefits.
It may be weird seeing the Trojans and Bruins as a part of the Big 10, but it will make for a unique College Football experience and potentially more conference vs conference matchups in the future to hopefully keep some of those big rivalries alive.
