A general view of the Big Ten logo. Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

The Big Ten is at the epicenter of college football's shifting landscape

By Eric Smithling | Last updated 8/2/23

The Big Ten left the Pac-12 for dead but doesn’t want to be the one to pull the plug on the conference.

In an article for The Athletic on the conference flirting with the idea of adding Pac-12's Cal, Oregon, Stanford and Washington, Nicole Auerbach wrote, “The Big Ten does not want to be the one to cause the death of the Pac-12 Conference.”

That’s so kind of the Big Ten to think of the Pac-12 after it ransacked the conference last June, absconding with the conference’s two most-cherished brands, UCLA and USC, which will crossover to the Big Ten in 2024.

It’s also disingenuous. Allow us to help, then. Big Ten, you killed the Pac-12. It’s over. Can we move on?

Once the Big Ten comes to its senses, it’s likely to expand further, adding the northernmost remaining Pac-12 members.

If that is the route the conference takes, it might not only be the Pac-12 that gets destroyed. A super, 20-team conference might cause the SEC to expand. The logical place for it to look to broaden its borders is the ACC. Popular schools such as Clemson, Duke, North Carolina and Florida State could all be intriguing adds for the conference as it tries to keep up with the Big Ten.

Florida State is practically throwing itself at the SEC.

Florida State Trustee Drew Weatherford: "It's not a matter of if we leave (the ACC), but how & when we leave"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 2, 2023

Perhaps that should be the bigger concern for the Big Ten. If it becomes the Big 20, the SEC will likely grow bigger, too. And as much as it wants, the Big Ten can’t match the SEC.

National Championships since 2007:
(CFB, Basketball, Baseball & Softball)@SEC 31@Big12Conference 12@theACC 11@pac12 11@bigten 1 https://t.co/AK3DBD2Ab1
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) July 28, 2023

Another option is for the ACC to expand, which might be the only way for the conference to appease its biggest assets. Schools will rack up frequent flier miles but adding the four most prestigious Pac-12 brands remaining — and Notre Dame — could be the best play for that league’s long-term survival.

With the Pac-12’s media rights deal expected to underwhelm, it might only be a matter of time before the vultures swarm. Depending on who gets what, the landscape could shift even more.

The Big Ten might not deliver the final blow to the Pac-12. But its strike when it took UCLA and USC is what brought us here.

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