The only thing funnier than the idea of the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins joining the Big Ten Conference is that the Rutgers Scarlet Knights are already members.
In a move that could shift the college sports landscape pretty significantly, Pac-12 insider Jon Wilner is reporting Thursday that USC and UCLA are planning to leave the conference and join the Big Ten.
The move would have a seismic impact on not just the Pac-12 and Big Ten but the rest of college athletics. The ACC and Big 12 will feel the need to make moves to keep up while the SEC, which already has Texas and Oklahoma incoming, could see it as a reason to continue expanding. And then we’ll find ourselves in the inevitable place that college sports have always been heading, away from the conference structure and toward a professional league.
However, in the meantime, the idea of two Los Angeles-based schools in the Midwestern-based conference has certainly created a lot of fun reactions regarding travel and game locations. And it seems like the one school that everyone can agree makes this the funniest situation possible is Rutgers.
The Piscataway, New Jersey college has been a punching bag since it joined the Big Ten, a move meant to shore up access to New York City that many felt was beneath the conference. Their football program has been a bottom-feeder for most of their run while there and they continue to seem like the odd-man-out in every Big Ten discussion.
That not only hasn’t changed with the potential arrival of USC and UCLA but it seems to have made Rutgers’ presence in all of this even more absurd and rife for jokes.
https://twitter.com/HoyaSuxa/status/1542562952145936387
UCLA vs Rutgers. It's B1G! https://t.co/wahRfFRbEF
— Dan Cohen (@DanRCohen14) June 30, 2022
The Rose Bowl will never match Maryland vs. Rutgers as the Big Ten's most prestigious intraconference game. Sorry
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) June 30, 2022