Not all college football programs are created equal. We are perhaps, reminded of that even more with the latest round of league expansion.
The richest and most powerful programs are gobbled up to enhance other leagues’ pedigrees. Others are left in a cruel game of musical chairs in which teams will most likely be left without a seat at the big boy table.
Right now, it’s the Big Ten, SEC and, to a lesser extent, the Big 12, doing the hunting and consumption of programs looking for a better and sweeter deal. ACC, you are on the clock. So much so, that after the latest news of Oregon and Washington joining UCLA and USC in the Big Ten, the Pac-12 is most likely going the way of the rotary phone save for Bruce Willis hopping on an asteroid and saving the presumed crash, burn and annihilation of the conference, which is left with just four members.
Even within the Big Ten, the most prestigious cash cows are pulling some in the rear. Now that the conference is set to have 18 members battling from coast-to-coast, and sea to shining microplastic-riddled warming sea, we thought we’d rank each Big Ten football program based on its value to the league.
We count down from 18, all the way to No. 1 in our Big Ten football program ranking.