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The Big Ten is on the verge of changing dramatically with the additions of USC and UCLA to the fold. In fact, the two Pac-12 teams may just be the start of the conference’s plans for world domination.
But even if the conference had not chosen to expand, one thing was clear. The Big Ten badly needs to fix its division alignments. Since switching from Leaders and Legends to East and West in 2022, the conference has been comically lopsided. In the eight years since the change, the Big Ten East has won all eight conference championship games.
The East features perennial powerhouse Ohio State as well Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State. While the West, meanwhile, has been represented five times by Wisconsin, twice by Northwestern and once by Iowa. Only three times has the West winner been within 10 points in the Big Ten title game.
So it’s easy to see why fans, particularly those of teams in the East, are clamoring for realignment. But it doesn’t appear that’ll happen before the addition of new teams.
Big Ten Reportedly Holding Off On Division Shuffling Until 2024
Scott Dochterman of The Athletic reports that sources have told him the Big Ten will not make any changes to its divisions until USC and UCLA join in 2024.
“There was strong consideration to revamp from geographic divisions to a single-conference entity for 2023 but there were too many issues to implement for next season. Among the most discussed issues for Big Ten administrators and school officials include the desire to unveil one new system for USC and UCLA rather than in consecutive years, the number of protected games and television concerns.”
The calls for change have only grown louder in 2022 due to struggling Wisconsin and Iowa teams. Illinois, shockingly, is the lone ranked Big Ten West team entering Week 9. Only two teams in the West, Illinois and Purdue, are currently above .500.
Despite this, the Big Ten is sticking to guns for the time being. Which means that the next two Big Ten title games could be extremely ugly.