There is a prominent belief in the world of college football that when it comes to the best conferences in the nation, the Big Ten stands among the best of the best.
Obviously, it is impossible to dethrone the SEC when it comes to accolades. Since 2000, 14 of the 22 national champions in college football have come from the South Eastern Conference, including six of the last eight. The Big Ten has a pair of championships under its belt in that time period, though, and schools from that conference are routinely near the top of the rankings and in contention every single season.
There should be no confusion about why the Oregon Ducks wanted to jump from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten in the latest round of conference realignment, where they will now be aligned with some of the best teams in the nation, including Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa, among others.
But when you look at that history over the past couple of decades, where do the Ducks stand when it comes to national prominence? To answer that question, we looked at howmany times each team in the conference — newly expanded to 18 teams with the additions of the USC Trojans, Washington Huskies, and UCLA Bruins — found themselves ranked inside the AP Top 10.
Here’s where Oregon stacks up: