Tag: Big Ten Expansion

Reports say ACC, not the Big Ten, reviewing possible additions of Cal and Stanford

Reports say the ACC, not the Big Ten, could be thinking about adding Cal and Stanford.

If the most logical place for Pac-12 leftovers Cal and Stanford was supposed to be the Big Ten, then the ACC may be trying to proactively fly in to scoop up the Bears and Cardinal before the Big Ten has a chance. The Associated Press has reported the ACC is reviewing the possibility of adding Cal and Stanford to the conference.

Cal and Stanford are the two most attractive expansion candidates from the four remaining Pac-12 members. Academically, the two schools would be good fits for the Big Ten and ACC. Geographically, the Big Ten would now make more sense compared to the ACC if only because the Big Ten is about to have four west coast members in 2024, alleviating a good amount of travel expense concerns for a school like Stanford in particular.

The Big Ten will be adding USC, UCLA, Orgeon, and Washington in 2024. At the same time, the Big 12 will welcome Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah to the conference.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the next 24 hours could be very interesting for the possible expansion of the ACC to include Cal and Stanford.

The Big Ten may not be done with expansion just yet, but Cal and Stanford figured to at least be on the radar for any future move by the conference. But if the last two California schools from the Pac-12’s remains do end up aligning with the ACC, that would seem to bring any possible Big Ten expansion to a halt, for now.

There is still an eye on the developments with Florida State, which has made it clear it would not blink twice leaving the ACC if it was deemed beneficial and necessary. And if Florida state left, and the Big Ten was the landing spot, the Big Ten would likely add at least one more member to get to an even 20 members. North Carolina and Virginia have been thought of as potential targets before. And, of course, there is always Notre Dame sitting out there.

Whatever the fate is for Cal and Stanford, there is still a question of what happens to Oregon State and Washignton State, the other two leftovers in the Pac-12 following the devastating expansion blows dealt by the Big Ten and Big 12 last week.

According to the same AP report, the American Athletic Conference has expressed an interest in adding all four schools to its membership. The AAC is not the only Group of Five conference investigating the Pac-12 schools still without a home. The Mountain West Conference is reportedly reviewing the possibility of adding Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washignton State.

So will Penn State be getting any more new conference foes to look forward to? We’ll wait to see how this all shakes out, because nothing is ever a done deal when it comes to conference realignment.

Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=10]

RUMOR: Big Ten ‘will most likely’ move to 10 game conference schedule following recent expansion

The additions of Oregon and Washington will reportedly result in an additional Big Ten conference game on everyone’s schedule

The additions of Oregon and Washington will reportedly result in an additional Big Ten conference game on everyone’s schedule.

There is a rumor being reported by a “Michigan insider” at On3.com that the Big Ten will “most likely be moving to 10 conference games” with the additions of the Ducks and Huskies. This would also be the case should the league look to add two more teams to reach 20 total teams in the conference.

This rumor has yet to be reported by any other big-time news media outlets at this time so for now it is simply a rumor. But this rumor does make a lot of sense when you think about the size of the Big Ten and the fact that the TV networks would love additional conference games.

If the Big Ten does actually expand to 10 games — which is still not certain — then it’ll be interesting to see if that’ll occur in 2024 when USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington join the league or further down the road. It’ll result in schools having to adjust their future schedules either way but if it is in 2024, then that would mean Michigan State would have to cut one of their non-conference games against Florida Atlantic, Louisiana or Boston College.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]

James Franklin on Big Ten’s latest expansion: It’s very different

James Franklin on Big Ten adding Oregon and Washington: It’s very different than the college football that we all grew up with

The Big Ten will be welcoming Oregon and Washignton in addition to USC and UCLA as conference members in 2024, bringing the total membership up to 18 members. The news of the latest expansion move by the Big Ten has received plenty of attention and reaction in the days since the news dropped from the conference, and Penn State head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] shared his thoughts on the move at his Penn State football media day press conference on Sunday.

While Franklin continues to keep his focus on what is directly in front of his team, stating he is only worried about the upcoming season for now and the season opener at home against West Virginia, he did share some thoughts about the state of the game with conference realignment going haywire.

“I do think, obviously, with what you see that’s going on in college football right now, it’s not shocking that these things are kind of happening,” Franklin said. “It’s somewhat sad in some ways, not that these people are being added to our conference because I think obviously there’s a lot of strategy that goes into that.”

[lawrence-related id=34750]

“But you know, I do think there’s some challenges that come along with it and it’s just very different for most of the people in this room, it’s very different than the college football that we all grew up with,” Franklin went on to say. “[Not] really college football, college athletics, where at least for most of the year it was pretty regional.”

The Big Ten is still a mostly midwestern conference even after adding Maryland and Rutgers in its most recent expansion move prior to the upcoming changes in 2024. The additions of USC and UCLA took the Big Ten to the west coast, with a massive geographic gap between the Los Angeles-based schools and the next closest Big Ten member, Nebraska. If nothing else, at least Franklin feels the additions of Oregon and Washington will be good for those two schools.

“I do think it’s a huge win for USC and UCLA from a travel perspective,” Franklin said. “I think it’s a huge win for them.”

The door for additional Big Ten expansion is not necessarily closed either. Cal and Stanford are two of the four remaining Pac-12 members left stranded without a conference home, and the Big Ten would be considered a logical landing spot if the Big Ten was interested in additional California schools. Florida State is kicking up some dust on a potential exit from the ACC and could consider making a push for a spot in the Big Ten with the conference potentially in a spot to add two more schools to get to 20 members.

If Florida State does work its way out of the conference and the Big Ten is not the destination, a weakened ACC could have potential Big Ten targets in North Carolina and Virginia. And, of course, the obligatory mention of Notre Dame has to be included as well. While the Irish may show no signs of being ready to abandon its football independence, we could be getting closer to a potential breaking point that causes the school’s leadership to reevaluate its stance on football independence. And if the ACC cracks, the Irish could work a way out of its contractual requirement to join the conference in football if it does step away from its independence. A Big Ten with all of Notre Dame’s traditional rivals would potentially be attractive, as would the Big Ten revenue shares.

But we’ll see what this week brings in conference realignment news, if anything, after a turbulent week last week.

Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=10]

LSJ columnist Graham Couch explains how the Big Ten has become a ‘bully’ through recent expansion

The college football landscape is shifting again — and the Big Ten is mostly to blame

The college football landscape is shifting again — and the Big Ten is mostly to blame.

The Big Ten added two more Pac-12 teams this past week with the additions of Oregon and Washington on Friday. The Huskies and Ducks will join USC and UCLA in entering the Big Ten in 2024. Also on Friday, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah announced they’d be leaving the league to join the Big 12 — leaving the once proud and rich Pac-12 with just four teams: Cal, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington State.

So it’s fair to say the Big Ten is a bully that resulted in the death of the Pac-12, right? Well, that’s the thought from Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal — to which I agree.

Click on the tweet below to read the complete column from Couch on how the Big Ten has become a bully that helped complete the downfall of the Pac-12:

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]

Ranking each Big Ten team based on current state, long-term success in expanded league

See where Michigan State football stands amongst its peers when the league expands to 18 teams in 2024

The Big Ten grew this past week by adding a pair of premier college football programs in Oregon and Washington.

With the additions of the Ducks and Huskies, the Big Ten will now be 18 teams starting in 2024. They’ll enter the league at the same time as USC and UCLA.

With there being plenty of excitement and talk around the new-looking Big Ten, I took a stab at power ranking the 18 teams based on the current state and long-term success within the newly expanded conference. These rankings are not only taking into effect how I envision the programs looking this upcoming season but also how I project they could finish in the first few years in the expanded league.

See where I slate Michigan State amongst the new Big Ten field below:

Ranking 2024 Big Ten stadiums by capacity

Ranking Big Ten football stadiums by capacity following its 2024 expansion with USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington.

The Big Ten has always been home to some of the nation’s biggest college football stadiums and many of the oldest in the nation. That is not about to change with the upcoming expansion of the conference. The Big Ten will add USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington to the conference in 2024 and with it will add two storied college football venues and two of the loudest and most electric stadiums on the west coast.

But how will the stadium capacities of the Big Ten look once the four new members join the conference? While the top of the stadium capacity list will remain unchanged, there will be a few changes to the attendance pecking order in the Big Ten.

Going off the official attendance capacity numbers on record, here is an updated look at the Big Ten football stadium capacity from smallest to largest once USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington join the Big Ten in 2024.

Oregon, Washington to officially join Big Ten in 2024

The Big Ten is getting even bigger with the additions of Oregon and Washington now official

Oregon and Washington will officially be joining the Big Ten.

On Friday evening, things became official with Oregon and Washington receiving and accepting invites to join the Big Ten conference. The Ducks and Huskies will join USC and UCLA as new members in the league in the fall of 2024.

With the expansion of Oregon and Washington, the Big Ten will now have 18 schools starting next year. There is still a possibility the league could expand further as some (including myself) believe the league will want to get to at least 20 schools.

The Pac-12 also lost Arizona, Arizona State and Utah on Friday night. Those three schools joined Colorado in leaving for the Big 12 — which now leaves the Pac-12 with only four schools: Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State.

Learn more about the additions of Oregon and Washington by watching this Big Ten Network clip below:

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1362]

Ohio State football’s record against the four new Big Ten members

What new member of the Big Ten does Ohio State football have the most success against? #GoBucks

The Big Ten has now expanded to almost double the size of its original namesake. With the additions of Oregon and Washington on Friday, and with the already announced defections of UCLA and USC from the Pac-12, the conference will now sit at 18 teams beginning in 2024.

As an Ohio State fan, there are a lot of reasons to be excited about all of this news and what it means, but the Buckeyes do have some history with each of the four teams on the gridiron.

All of this history is going to become somewhat of a norm moving forward through the years, but we thought it’d be fun to look back at what the Ohio State football program’s record is against all four teams that will begin inserting themselves into all the fun in 2024.

Five reasons Ohio State fans should be excited about the additions of Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten

There are some compelling reasons for Ohio State fans to be excited about the additions of Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten. #GoBucks

By now you’ve heard the news. The Big Ten is seemingly expanding faster than the grand ole universe we live in. After UCLA and USC defected from the Pac-12 just a little over a year ago, we now usher in Bigfoot, rain, Sitka pines, and coffee with the additions of Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten.

Traditionalists are wringing their hands and banging their heads against the wall, but this is the new age of amateurism and college football has had to move right along with the changing landscape.

In fact, there are some exciting things about the additions of the two teams from the Pacific Northwest, and we thought we’d highlight some of them for you just in case this dizzying change has left you with a little bit of psychological whiplash and consternation.

Here are five reasons for Ohio State fans to be excited about the additions of the Ducks and Huskies to the Big Ten.

Gene Smith releases statement on additions of Oregon and Washington to Big Ten

Gene Smith is embracing the additions of Washington and Oregon to the Big Ten. #GoBucks

The Big Ten conference is expanding yet again. Just a little over a year after the two L.A. schools, UCLA and USC defected from the Pac-12 to join the conference, we have two more suitors from the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington. So — stay with me — there will now be eighteen teams in the new and improved (we think) Big Ten.

The reactions from around the college football world have been about as swift as this all played out, and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith got into the act, releasing a statement on the addition of the Ducks and Huskies.

“Welcoming the universities of Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten is exciting for our student-athletes, coaches, and fans,” said Smith. “Both schools are members of the AAU and share Ohio State’s commitment to excellence in the classroom and on the playing field.”

Smith went further on X (formerly Twitter) to talk about the opportunities to bring the Ohio State brand to other parts of the country.

“The additional west coast teams will assist with the integration of USC and UCLA, and provide additional opportunities for our student athletes to compete in front of Buckeye alumni and fans from coast to coast.”

We’ll have more on this fast-swirling news and what it all means for Ohio State and the Big Ten in general from the need to shake up schedules, travel considerations, matchup scenarios, and more.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=669142128]

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on Twitter.