New Era of College Football

USC and UCLA moving to the Big10 was a move that has changed college football. The college football landscape has been on a consistent path of change over the last five years with multiple blue-blood programs switching conferences.

One large scale eruption was the decision of Texas and Oklahoma’s to move to the SEC. There were reports of the move posted and discussed on every major news media outlet. It was covered well before it officially took place. USC and UCLA’s move came together a little differently.

When the two Pac-12 schools made their decision to leave their conference and run over to the Big10, it was largely put together behind closed doors. Not only was the public caught off guard, so were multiple programs in their own conference. Numerous schools in the Pac-12 were surprised by the move and have stated as such.

The Big12 has tried to keep face by bringing in additions that include UCF, BYU, Houston, and Cincinnati. These smaller schools are all competitive across the board, but ultimately fail in comparison to the true powerhouse schools. The Pac-12 will now be forced to do the same. One of the biggest dominos left to fall will be Notre Dame. Notre Dame has famously remained an independent yet has competed closely with the ACC over recent years. Despite these ties, no one truly knows where they will fall.

We are seeing a new “Power 2” as opposed to “Power 5”. There are only a few actual contenders left across the country who will not be a part of the two power conferences.  The Big10 and SEC are clearly the leaders in college athletics, and it will soon not even be close as teams continue to move around.