The Big Ten, one of the oldest conferences in the nation—founded in 1896—hasn’t had just ten teams since 1993 and with the addition of UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon from the PAC-12 have swelled to 18. The Founding members of the conference were Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin. Indiana and Iowa joined in 1899 with Ohio State not arriving until 1912. And although last to join the original Big Ten, the Buckeyes are favored in this year’s media poll to come in No. 1 with newcomer Oregon expected to be hot on their heels. It could be a make-or-break year for head coach Ryan Day but with former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly taking over the play calling as Offensive Coordinator most pundits expect Ohio State to run away with it this year.
Of course I would like nothing better than a former PAC-12 team to win the Big Ten in Year 1. Also high on the list of possible contenders to win that conference championship is Penn State—a team that would have made the college football playoff in four of the last eight years if the current 12 team configuration had been in place. But because of the four team format they have basically flown under the radar as one of the most successful programs in the country. Michigan came in fourth followed by Iowa in fifth place. For my money USC, at sixth in the poll, is the dark horse in the race and could actually win it all. But if they knock off LSU in the Vegas Kick-off Classic on Sunday, September 1st, they certainly won’t be able to sneak up on anyone. LSU comes in with a lot of veterans who decided to put off the NFL for a chance at the national championship. Averaging 45.5 points-per-game last year–1st in the nation—they’ll be going against a Lincoln Riley coached USC team that has averaged at least 40 points per game since he arrived—41.8 last year. Of course lots of changes on the offense for the Trojans, but it’s the big change on defense that could decide this game. With the hiring of D’Anton Lynn from UCLA as their Defensive Coordinator the hope is that he can transform a USC team that was 121st in the nation in points allowed like he did with the Bruins who went from 29 points allowed to just 18.4 per game—14th in the nation—from 2022 to 2023.
Here are links to videos, articles, and other comments regarding the four former PAC-12 teams that are now in the newly configured eighteen team Big Ten:
USC—Lincoln Riley and D’Anton Lynn
Washington—Jedd Fisch
Oregon—Dan Lanning
UCLA—DeShaun Foster