In a news cycle that was dominated by NBA free agency news, one major college football story caused just as much of a stir on social media. Multiple reports announced that USC and UCLA were both interested in leaving the PAC-12 for the Big Ten, a move that was approved by the conference Thursday. They’ll officially join in 2024.
The old days of intense regional rivalries and fans having genuine connections to the conference are seemingly over. It started once Texas and Oklahoma decided to make the leap from the Big 12 for the SEC and now two West Coast powers are heading to a conference whose schools are mostly based out of the Midwest.
While giving his analysis of the shocking news on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit believes the changes to the sport are just beginning, claiming that in the future we could see a college landscape similar to the NFL with two “mega conferences” like the AFC and NFC.
“I think OU and Texas were the first dominoes and now USC and UCLA are the next dominoes, and I don’t think we’re done,” Herbstreit said. “We don’t have to agree with it. We can jump up and down if we’re traditionalists. What in the heck’s going on with OU and Texas in the SEC and now USC and UCLA in the Big Ten? Keep your seatbelt on, because they’re not done.”
“It’s very, very hard for the ACC, the Big 12, and the Pac-12 to compete with the Big Two,” Herbstreit later added. “And honestly, I think that’s our future. I haven’t spoken with anybody, but I think that’s where this thing when the dust settles, that’s where we’re going to be: with about 50 to 55 teams, half of them in the Big Ten, half of them in the SEC. For simplifying it, think AFC-NFC in the NFL. To have Saturdays, you’re gonna have three divisions: West, Middle, and East, or South, and that’s what it’s going to be. I think there’s gonna be some very tough decisions because you’re gonna keep out a lot of teams that want to be a part of this future and they’re not going to be invited. So it’s going to be more of the haves than the have-nots in big-time college athletics.”
As a rabid college football fan myself, these changes certainly aren’t boding well with many enthusiasts of the sport.
USC and UCLA combined for exactly one championship in the Pac-12 twelve team era
Just further shows what college football at large is all about. Follow the money, follow the money, follow the money.
It ain’t about football. A realization that sucks for a guy like myself.
— Porter Larsen (@Larsen_ESPN) June 30, 2022
College football doesn’t feel like college football anymore.
— Brandon Walker (@BFW) June 30, 2022
The Big [whatever] and the SEC hoovering up the ~40 most profitable programs and turning college football into the AFC and the NFC was probably inevitable in this climate, but man, it really sucks that all these "athletic departments" make decisions that only benefit football.
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) June 30, 2022
The ACC definitely has the cache of programs like Clemson and Florida State, two legendary programs that can hold the conference up against the big dogs. But if the Big Ten targets another West Coast program, like Washington or Oregon, things may only get worse.
Buckle up boys and girls, welcome to the new age of college football.
[On3]
