(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As the Big Ten continues to grow, athletic success has only become harder for programs like Northwestern and the University of Illinois.
With Pac-12 schools fleeing for greener pastures, the Big Ten now houses USC, Oregon, UCLA and Washington. That means the conference now has 18 teams, an increase from 14 in 2023 and 11 in 2009.
John Talty, who co-authored a new book called “The Price: What it Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos,” spoke with WBBM to discuss the impact of conference realignment.
“These realignment moves — and we’ve seen it in the SEC, too, with Texas and Oklahoma — it doesn’t necessarily hurt the upper echelon,” Talty said. “But those middle-of-the-pack ones that you think, ‘Every three years, maybe we can make a run,’ I just think it’s gotten harder for them to do that now.”
The NCAA now recognizes four power conferences, instead of five: the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the SEC.
Only Oregon State University and Washington State University remain in the Pac-12. The University of Arizona, Arizona State University and the University of Utah left the Pac-12 and joined the Big 12 this year.
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