The Big Ten announced that they were expanding some more this week. Washington and Oregon will be joining the Big Ten in 2024 alongside UCLA and USC. It looks like the PAC-12 (or whatever they want to call themselves now) is about to die. Colorado bolted to the Big XII a few weeks ago, then after this news, it looks like Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State are also headed there. That leaves Stanford, Oregon State, Cal, and Washington State. Will those schools try to merge the PAC and Mountain West? I mean, if you are the MWC, do you see how poorly the PAC-12 was run, and say “hey, we will let those four join us, but we want nothing to do with your administrative folks.”
There will need to be some changes to the Big Ten scheduling structure. They will almost certainly have to go to a 10 conference game schedule. That means each team will get two non-conference opponents (works well for Washington/Washington State or Oregon/Oregon State). I would love it if Penn State decided to work a deal with Pitt to play every year (I know, it will not happen). The Big Ten has made it obvious that they do not believe PSU has a dedicated rivalry, hence why they did not have a guaranteed opponent. Then make your other non-conference game a cupcake against an FCS program (or one of the new FBS schools).
So what happens next? I have to think the SEC is making a play for someone else. They cannot stand still and risk losing out on big time money. Clemson would be the most obvious bet for them. Although, I have read rumors about the Big Ten looking to add Clemson and Florida State. Seems insane to me. The ACC could be next to see a big poaching (although, I think there is big buyout money for schools wanting to leave early, so that may cause some problems). Notre Dame is still out there, but I cannot imagine them joining a conference at this point.
At this point, I am rooting for the chaos. I love college football, and when this is all over, there will probably be SEC and Big Ten. Each with like 30 teams. The other conferences will just play each other in a lower tier.
