The world of college football was just shaken up once again and once again it was USC at the helm of a decision that changed the collegiate landscape once more in 2022. It was announced tonight that the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins will join the B1G 10 Athletic Conference beginning in 2024. This brings an end to a storied run of the Trojans in Pac-12 play. They will leave the conference as the all-time most successful program in quite a few areas, but in football they were second to none. The Trojans enter the B1G coming off 39 conference titles, 11 claimed national titles, four division titles. The Trojans have also sent 14 players to the NFL Hall of Fame. This is no football afterthought moving conferences, this is the Pac-12’s finest sending their best and brightest.
“Over the past three years, we have worked hard to ground our university decisions in what is best for our students,” said USC President Carol L. Folt. “With the Big Ten, we are joining a storied conference that shares our commitment to academic excellence and athletic competitiveness, and we are positioning USC and our student-athletes for long-term success and stability amidst the rapidly evolving sports media and collegiate athletics landscapes. We are delighted to begin this new chapter in 2024.”
“Ultimately, the Big Ten is the best home for USC and Trojan athletics as we move into the new world of collegiate sports,” Athletic Director Mike Bohn said. “We are excited that our values align with the league’s member institutions. We also will benefit from the stability and strength of the conference; the athletic caliber of Big Ten institutions; the increased visibility, exposure, and resources the conference will bring our student-athletes and programs; and the ability to expand engagement with our passionate alumni nationwide.”
The move has been rumored in some circles for a long while now, but nobody was sure if the Trojans were actually going to break away from the Pac-12. The genesis for this movement was probably the rumored “independent” move over the past couple of years, but it’s now evolved into its final form. The move by the B1G is a shrewd one. Not only does it keep USC and Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, it gives USC a chance to set itself apart in a more financially secure league.
At the end of the day, college football has been changing for years. When teams are finally finished moving and the leagues are set in stone for the next decade or so of college play, we could be looking at a league completely different than anything we’ve ever seen before. We probably get more Playoff Expansion as a result. Maybe we could have an actual Playoff in college football before 2030. Maybe. Either way, UCLA and USC came up big tonight. Kudos to Riley for managing to avoid the idiocy of the SEC because he knew the BiG was the better venue for his team and style.
2024 is going to be a wild year of football.
