Predicting what’s next in college football conference realignment
The Big Ten moves to 20
When the Big Ten added USC and UCLA, it showed that geography isn’t going to hold back expansion and the next move seems to be the Pacific Northwest according to a report on Wednesday from Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.
A group of Big Ten presidents have begun exploratory discussions on expansion in light of Pac 12 uncertainty, industry sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) August 2, 2023
Focus is on possibly adding Oregon and Washington to move to 18 members or Cal and Stanford to reach 20. https://t.co/0kJj4twFdq
Oregon and Washington are the top two programs left in the Pac-12. They have the ability to compete for playoff spots and national titles. Oregon has reached the national title game in this new playoff era and Washington also made the playoff.
Geographic regions don’t matter as much anymore, but adding Seattle and Portland to the Big Ten footprint wouldn’t be bad. However, I don’t see it stopping there.
Stanford and Cal always made sense to me for the Big Ten. They would give USC and UCLA a couple of in-state opponents, plus they are prestigious academic institutions.
I could even make an argument for the Big Ten expanding to 24 teams by adding Notre Dame or Pittsburgh, Clemson, Miami, and Florida State.
Honestly, it’s probably not as impossible as we might think — but if the Big Ten gets involved in college football conference realignment – the SEC will too.
Wetzel does note that officials said a decision isn’t imminent, but we all know how quickly things can change in college football realignment.