Much like it did a year ago when Oklahoma and Texas shocked the sports world with the revelation that they were heading to the SEC, the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins provided the same firestorm on Thursday.
Heading to the Big 10 are the two west coast powers, providing the latest reshaping of the college football landscape. It appears that the arms race for 20-team super conferences is on between the SEC and the Big 10 and the latter just launched the latest salvo.
Left scrambling in this is the Pac-12, who lost two of their most high-profile members in one of the biggest media markets in the country. And it doesn’t sound like they’re done hemorrhaging teams as Oregon and Washington may be on the way to the Big 10 as well. Even if they stay, the Pac-12 has certainly taken a hit in the media sector and with few clear options of who to add to replace their departing members, that conference may not have long in the college football world.
The Big 12’s response, according to Brett McMurphy, may be to add the Arizona schools, bring back Colorado, and add the 2021 Pac-12 champion Utah to its ranks to get to 16. As they look to take advantage of the Pac-12’s current state of flux, the conference needs to be careful not to lose any of its current members the Big 10 or the SEC in their race for 20-team super conferences.
Left out of the discussion a year ago, Oklahoma State could be a natural option to add to the SEC’s ranks as a response to the Big 10, along with Florida State, Miami, and Clemson.
There’s no telling where this is heading. We haven’t even begun to see what college football is going to look like for the next decade.
While we wait for things to unfold further, let’s take a look at some of the best social media reactions to USC and UCLA’s move to the Big 10, including some fantastic roasts of Lincoln Riley.