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Takeaways from college football realignment, plus predicting what’s next

By Chris Peterson

Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, center, celebrates a touchdown against BYU with teammates Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022.Football Oregon Byu Football Byu At Oregon
Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, center, celebrates a touchdown against BYU with teammates Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022.Football Oregon Byu Football Byu At Oregon /
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Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Thoughts on the new Big Ten

Winning the Big Ten championship is going to be even more difficult. The league added USC and UCLA, then turned around and added two West-coast programs that have made the College Football Playoff.

Oregon made it to the national championship before losing to Ohio State. Washington also made a playoff appearance and USC was right on the cusp in 2022.

In terms of what it means going forward, for one, the Big Ten will need to adjust its schedule. The conference had a new scheduling format released for 2024 and 2025.

But Washington and Oregon are joining prior to the 2024 season, so will there be pods? Divisions? One Big 18-team league where the top two teams meet for the conference title?

Will the Big Ten make a push for 20? It wouldn’t shock me at this point. Cal and Stanford would make sense academically and in terms of geography. Then you could have a 10-team West division and a 10-team East division.

That’s all hypothetical. However, I have a hard time believing that the Big Ten is finished when it comes to college football conference realignment.

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