Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras met with the media for the first time since the spring earlier this week. The Hawkeyes’ likely No. 1 signal-caller reflected on his experience at the Manning Passing Academy, discussed what excites him about Iowa’s offense entering 2022 and even broached the topic of college realignment.
Of course, the Big Ten recently made waves by announcing the future additions of USC and UCLA in 2024. As someone that grew up in San Rafael, Calif., Petras is naturally familiar with both and excited about what each will bring to the conference in the future.
One of his only hangups is the fact that he won’t get the chance to play against either during his time in Iowa City. At least as a conference foe anyways.
“I know. It sucks, but, no, I wish they had joined five years ago. It would be cool, but I think it’s good for the conference, I think it’s good for certainly the Big Ten like I said. I think it’s good for California. I’m excited to see how it all plays out,” Petras said.
In what has been a common remark from longtime Big Ten fans, Petras took a little jab at USC and UCLA’s oftentimes underwhelming fan support.
“I think the best part is, I mean, you’ve got to if you’re a Big Ten Midwest team, you’ve got to pray for a couple road games in L.A. in November. I mean, you can’t ask for better, because they don’t have any fans, so it’s not like it’s going to be too loud, tough environment. That’s rude. They have fans, but it’s not the same as it is here and 60, 70 degree weather in November would be pretty cool. Yeah, better than 40 mile per hour winds, you can’t feel your hands. Ball is like soaking wet,” Petras said.
Even as Petras fired a couple of shots at Trojans and Bruins fans, he backtracked it to some degree pretty quickly. Really, it’s all in good fun and part of what makes the additions of USC and UCLA so great.
There is a culture clash at play here between Big Ten lifers and the fans of these programs that the league is adding. That’s in addition to regionality being thrown out the window.
For now, Petras doesn’t have to worry about any upcoming games against either USC or UCLA. Make no mistake about it, though. This won’t be the last time USC or UCLA fans hear a current Big Ten player, coach, analyst or fan point out some of the perceived differences in fan support or ask how these two new additions will handle a cold November day in Big Ten country.
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