Last week on Thursday, it didn’t even take a day before rumors became hard fact, as the early afternoon saw rumblings of the Big Ten adding USC and UCLA, with an announcement made that said move was official come evening time. It sent shockwaves through the college football landscape, less than a year after Texas and Oklahoma opted to move to the SEC from the Big 12, which then led to the Big Ten, ACC, and Pac-12 to form a loose ‘alliance.’
‘The Alliance’ is all-but dead now that the Big Ten raided the Pac-12, which leaves that conference and the ACC ripe for the picking — as well as the Big 12, still. It appears that the Big Ten still covets Notre Dame and is waiting on an answer, while Washington and Oregon applied for membership and were reportedly told the conference is standing pat at the moment.
Let’s say the Big Ten does continue to expand. Which schools would make sense?
We put together a list of 10 schools, all of which are AAU accredited (except one), which is perhaps the most important criteria for the Big Ten when accepting members. All Big Ten schools are in the AAU except Nebraska.
That said, here’s who we expect the Big Ten to target if it continues expanding.