Two California schools, UCLA and USC, have been unanimously approved by the Big Ten’s chancellors and presidents to join the conference.
So, really, we should be calling it the Big Sixteen.
Ohio State competes in the Big Ten for just about every sport. Since joining in 1912, several others have followed: Michigan State in 1950, Penn State in 1990, Nebraska in 2011, and Rutgers and Maryland both in 2014. In that same span, just one school – Chicago – has left the conference.
A Nationwide Conference
The Big Ten has gone coast to coast. From New Jersey to California, there will be a Big Ten team in 12 states. Despite the conference’s enlargement, most of the teams will still be situated in the East or the Midwest.
Currently, the conference is broken down into two divisions – East and West. Ohio State plays in the East. Right now, there’s no word on how these divisions will be realigned with USC and UCLA’s addition to the Big Ten, but there are a few possible ways it could all shake out.
Athlon Sports broke down three different possibilities:
- Keeping the East/West split
- Removing divisions
- Pods
Keeping the East/West split would mean adding UCLA and USC to the West, and then moving two teams to the West.
Option two is remove divisions altogether. This has been made possible due to a recent change in NCAA football rules.
Finally, option three is to separate the conference into four pods, with four teams each.
Realignment Happening Fast Across the League
The Big Ten isn’t the only conference making moves.
Naturally, when a team joins one conference, it leaves a void in another. Right now, the Pac-12 is fighting for dear life after losing two of its best teams, USC and UCLA. Currently, six other teams are considering jumping ship – Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Washington. Two schools from that list, Washington and Oregon, were at one point rumored to have been exploring a move to the Big Ten.
Meanwhile, the Big 12, which just lost its two most prestigious teams – Texas and Oklahoma – to the SEC. They’re desperate for new talent, trying to court the six teams above. In fact, a strategic merger or partnership between the Pac-12 and Big-12 has been floated due to both conferences relative weaknesses.
Like the Big Ten, the SEC has benefited from the instability. As mentioned above, both Texas and Oklahoma are planning a move to the conference. The SEC has stated that they won’t be adding any members after those two…for now.
Meanwhile, a bunch of mid-major teams are making moves to the Big 12. Cincinnati, which made history as the first team from the Group of 5 to make the College Football Playoff last year, will be joining the conference along with several other mid major teams: UCF, Houston and BYU.
Implications for the Buckeyes
This can all sound confusing and messy. What we all care about is simple: how does this impact Ohio State?
Well, for starters, the Buckeyes’ road to the College Football Playoff just got easier or harder, depending on how you look at it. USC and UCLA are much more competent programs than some of the perennial basement dwellers in the Big Ten like Rutgers or Illinois. This means it could add more competition for the Buckeyes in the regular season and postseason should the teams play each other. Competition is bad if they lose, potentially knocking OSU out of the playoff race.
Should they win, though, the resume for an Ohio State Playoff appearance may be strengthened as a result.
In other sports, especially men’s basketball, where UCLA is particularly potent, Ohio State will again face stiffer competition throughout the regular and post seasons. For similar reasons, this can be taken as good or bad news. If the Buckeyes live up to the competition, more NCAA tournament bids in men’s basketball and across all sports may be in the picture. Otherwise, the addition of the two teams may pose dangerous roadblocks for the team.