The Impact of USC and UCLA Joining the Big Ten

Switching conferences has been a major topic in the world of college sports in recent years. It was recently announced that Big Ten conference officials accepted the bid of both USC and UCLA to join in all sports starting in 2024.

This season it will be even easier to keep up with every second of your favorite college teams, including UCLA and USC, using Forza Football. Forza has everything, including live updates, scores, highlights, news, and game information!

The Big Ten Conference

Both schools have been in the Pac-12 for a long time, with USC joining in 1922 and UCLA joining in 1928. 

The addition of the two California schools brings the Big Ten to a total of 14 schools; the rest are Maryland, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, and Wisconsin. 

USC and UCLA deciding to join the Big Ten likely won’t be the last conference shift we see in the coming years. 

Pac-12 Could Struggle

The Pac-12 has had to try and keep pace with the larger conferences and has struggled to do so. Now losing two of their bigger programs will be quite the blow. 

With UCLA and USC leaving, it leaves the conference with ten teams: Washington State, Stanford, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, California, Oregon State, Arizona State, Utah, and Arizona. 

The on-field competition in the conference will likely struggle. Of those remaining teams, only Stanford has ever won a National Championship. The Cardinals will likely be the heavy favorites in the conference once UCLA and USC leave. 

To find a team other than UCLA and Stanford that had won the Pac-12, you have to go back to 2004 when Arizona and UCLA tied. 

Losing two teams in California will make it difficult for the Pac-12 to survive this move in all sports, not just women’s soccer.

Tough Conference Schedule

The Big Ten is adding two great programs that will bring even more attention to an already impressive conference. It will be great competition between many highly regarded programs. Adding two programs like these could allow the Big Ten to compete with the ACC for the best women’s soccer conference. 

Joining the Big Ten has its pros, including a sizeable monetary incentive and stiff competition. However, it will be a tough adjustment for these athletes as they’ll need to travel a ton throughout the season. 

The Big Ten is comprised of schools in the central part of the United States and the east coast. That will make for long travel days especially considering the quick turnaround of the women’s college soccer schedule. Usually, teams play at least two games a week. 

Overall, only time will tell what will become of the Pac-12 and the Big Ten. We’ll see in 2024 how this change plays out.

Featured image via @uclawsoccer on Instagram

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