Tag: BIG Ten Conference

My wife ranks the Big Ten nicknames!

Yet another interesting list from my wife!

It’s Sunday, which means it’s time for another one of “My wife ranks lists.” She’s previously has given us her thoughts on mascots, uniforms, and helmets. Today we’re taking a look at the 14 Big Ten nicknames. A couple of bits of history and random tidbits on the history of Big Ten nicknames.

  • Did you know that the Minnesota Golden Gophers got their nickname from a political cartoon in the 1850s? The golden term was added in the 1930s by a Minnesota sports writer.
  • Northwestern’s original mascot was a bear cub from the Lincoln Park Zoo named Furpaw. After a losing season in 1923, the school retired Furpaw believing he was bad luck. However, in 1924 Chicago Daily Tribune writer Wallace Abbey gave the school the wildcat nickname when he wrote after a loss to the University of Chicago, “Football players had not come down from Evanston; wildcats would be a name better suited to Coach Glenn Thistletwaite’s boys.”
  • The Ohio State Buckeyes get their nickname from the colloquial term used for people from Ohio.
  • Nebraska sports writer Cy Sherman gave the school its nickname when he referred to them as the Cornhuskers in 1899. The school formally adopted the nickname the following year.

Those are just to name a few. Now it’s time to take a look at how my wife ranks the nicknames

Report: Big 12 may be more likely landing spot for Oregon than the Big Ten

The Big Ten waiting on Notre Dame may end up forcing the Ducks into a leap to the Big 12 rather than following USC and UCLA.

In today’s 24-hour media cycle, things change very quickly. When the potential demise of the college football world as we know it is taking place, things change in a matter of seconds.

According to Mercury News reporter Jon Wilner, who has been all over the Pac-12 news, it may be increasingly difficult for the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies to find a way into the Big Ten as we previously thought they would.

With everything hinging on the Big Ten waiting for Notre Dame to make a decision about whether or not they will join the conference, it appears that there could be a stalemate that might end up forcing the Ducks’ hand and pushing them towards either a jump to the Big 12, or standing pat in the Pac-12 and potentially merging with the Big 12.

This may be unfortunate news for fans of the Ducks who were excited at the thought of Oregon joining one of the super conferences and lining it up with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and others on a common basis and becoming one of the prime teams in the nation. Instead, it seems like it may be more likely that the Ducks become one of the pillar teams in a Big 12 conference that acts as a third super conference, though it may end up being a “semi-super conference” when all is said and done.

As I said at the top of this article, things move quickly, and could change in a matter of minutes or hours.

At the moment, though, it looks like the Big 12 is a more likely landing spot for the Ducks than the Big 10.

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With conference realignment at the forefront, who are the most valuable college football programs?

As the Big Ten and SEC continue their arms race for conference superiority, which teams are the most valuable in college football?

College football is changing before our very eyes and will likely never be the same. The product on the field will still be entertaining and draw eyes to the television sets, but it’s going to look and feel very different 10 years from now.

Conference realignment has changed the face of college football over the last 30 years. From the disbanding of the Southwest and Big 8 conferences to the expansion and contraction of the Big East to the realignment that saw four of the Big 12’s programs find new homes a decade ago to what we’ve seen over the last year as powerhouse programs make the move to big-time conferences.

Oklahoma and Texas’ commitment to the SEC and USC and UCLA’s pledge to the Big Ten were the final straws that broke the back of the tradition-rich college football we love.

As the sands shift in college football, profitability and value are just as important as results on the field.

With conference realignment just getting started, let’s take a look back at Forbes’ list from 2019 of the 25 most valuable college football programs. It was the last time it updated the list, but it’s telling.

The new-look SEC, with Texas and Oklahoma, features 12 of the top 25 programs on the list. The only conference schools not listed are Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Mississippi State. The new-look Big Ten has eight of the top 25. Oregon, Notre Dame, Clemson, Washington, and Florida State make up the rest of the list, and each has been discussed for possible relocation to the SEC or Big Ten.

The ACC would be in good shape if it weren’t for its media rights agreement that runs through 2036. As media rights deals are estimated to be worth more than a billion dollars for the Big Ten and the SEC in the future, the ACC is getting left behind financially.

That reality could create a situation that leads to more moves coming in the near future for college football’s most valuable programs.

My wife ranks the Big Ten helmets

My wife is back and this time we’re looking at helmets!!

Welcome back, previously, we’ve seen my wife rank Big Ten mascots and uniforms here on Cornhusker wire, and she’s returned once again. Today we’ll be taking a look at Big Ten helmets. The helmet is, without a doubt, the most identifiable marking of any college football program. But, unfortunately, there’s so much variety nowadays that we sometimes forget that each program has its own traditional look.

Buckle up and get ready because we’re not only in for an exciting list, but we’re sure to have a funny comment or two along the way. So please sit back, relax, begin scrolling, and check out my wife’s rankings of Big Ten helmets. It can’t be any stranger than the uniform list.

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Where Pac-12 teams are ranked on Forbes’ list of most valuable college football teams in America

Like it or not, conference realignment is directly related to team value. So which Pac-12 teams have the highest value in the nation?

Like it or not, college football appears headed toward a set with two super -conferences after USC and UCLA opted to leave the Pac-12 and join the Big Ten.

Oregon and Washington are known to be interested in jumping ship as well, although a recent report indicates the Big Ten is waiting to hear what Notre Dame does before it commits to adding more members.

The Big Ten and the SEC are on a crash course to collect not only the highest performing college football programs in the country, they want the most valuable schools as well.

A list from Forbes from back in 2019 shows which college football programs have the most monetary value, and while those numbers have likely shifted in recent years, it does show why USC (although not UCLA) would be appealing to the NCAA’s premier conferences.

It also paints a positive picture for both the Ducks and Huskies, who each ranked (at the time) ahead of USC in overall value.

Here is a look at each of the top-25 most valuable programs in college football in light of recent realignment discussion:

The best social media reactions to USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten

How social media reacted to USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten

On Thursday afternoon, the landscape of major conference college sports was turned on its head. Los Angeles became Big Ten country as USC and UCLA bolted from the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten conference.

Reactions quickly started pouring in from all corners of the college sports world with news of two Los Angeles programs heading to a conference of schools mainly located in the midwest. Speculation about what dominoes were next to fall also dominated the discourse, as the move felt like just one of many we would see in the coming weeks and months.

Here is a look at some of the best reactions to the Bruins and Trojans heading to the Pac-12:

12 schools that could end up in the Big Ten

Who are potential Big Ten fits if the conference continues to expand?

Thursday afternoon marked a seismic shift in the landscape of college sports when USC and UCLA announced their decision to join the Big Ten conference.

Questions began to swirl about the dominoes that would come after. Are we on pace for a pair of “superconferences” that dominate college football? Is this just the first of many additions for the Big Ten in the coming months?

The SEC adding Texas and Oklahoma was the proper start of something brewing but with the geographic insanity of two Los Angeles schools joining a midwest conference, it’s clear that anything is possible.

The Big Ten likely isn’t done adding as they look to build into a power that can rival the SEC and bring in astronomical numbers from television money.

Where will the conference go next? What teams are looking to join? Here is a list of 12 schools that could potentially join a Big Ten superconference:

What other schools should the Big Ten add?

The Big Ten isn’t done expanding, so who’s next to join the conference?

Now that the Big Ten has added USC and UCLA starting in 2024, the question of whether or not the conference will continue with expansion or stand pat at 16 teams remains. A report from Sports Illustrated states that several schools are already making moves to try and join the Big Ten or SEC out of a fear of being left behind if the two leagues each form a 20-team super-conference. The report states,

“Sources tell Sports Illustrated several schools across the country are jockeying to land in one of the two conferences, a multiteam shift that many believe will result in the two conferences—35 to 40 teams—separating themselves from the rest of the pack.”

So it appears that expansion across all college football is far from done. Take a look below at just some of the schools we think the Big Ten might be interested in adding to their league before they end up somewhere else.

Big Ten schools welcome USC and UCLA to conference

Each school welcomed the new members in their own unique way!!

Reactions continue to pour in from all across the college football world after the shocking announcement that the Big Ten conference will be adding the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins to the league beginning in 2024. It was less than ten months ago that Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff convinced Big Ten head Kevin Warren and ACC leader Jim Phillips to form an alliance. It was a gentlemen’s agreement not to poach one another’s, league members. This pact was made in the wake of Oklahoma and Texas announcing they would be joining the SEC. Less than ten months later and the alliance has already fallen apart.

If you remember, we had previously discussed the Big Ten’s new media rights deal, which could fetch the conference up to $1 billion a year. That deal was supposed to be completed by Memorial Day but was delayed. New reports from Sports Illustrated state that conversations between the two schools and the Big Ten began several weeks ago, right around when the new TV deal’s negotiations were delayed.

This is the third time the conference has expanded since 2010. That year the league added Nebraska. In 2014 Maryland and Rutgers joined, and now heading into 2024, it will add USC and UCLA. So the Big Ten, a midwest conference, will stretch from one coast to another. Take a look below and see how each Big Ten school welcomed the two newest members to the conference.

Predicting where every Pac-12 team would end up if the conference disbanded

With USC and UCLA gone, the Pac-12 may be on life support. If it were to disband, where would the other 10 teams go?

It certainly looks like the end of the Pac-12 is on the horizon. At the very least, it will be the end of the conference as we know it. After the news came that both USC and UCLA were planning to leave the conference and join the Big Ten starting in 2024, the door is now open for other teams to follow suit.

So who will join the Trojans and Bruins in the Big Ten, and where will the other schools in the conference land? One of the main schools of thought is that some of the top teams in the Pac-12 — your Oregon’s, or Washington’s — will help form a super-conference in the Big Ten, while the remaining schools will likely merge with the Big-12 and form another super-conference.

If that were the case, which teams would go where? We make some predictions here: