With the Big Ten realignment officially jumping on Oregon and Washington, it’s now clear that the Big Ten has even more logistical work to do to get this new math and geography to work. No league has ever tried 18 schools before, let alone one that stretches from New Jersey to Seattle. Here are a few things we can expect in a year’s time with the Ducks and Huskies, along with the new league.
Rivalries or Non-conference Games Could Get Blown Up
Washington’s probably fine with its non-conference schedule. The Huskies only scheduled two games for 2024 out of conference. If Washington State is still willing to play the Apple Cup, Washington can probably make that work and keep the rivalry running.
Things are not that simple for Oregon. With four games on the slate, the Ducks have no wiggle room for changing their schedule. The good news is that one of the four is against Hawaii, so Oregon can apply for the Hawaii Exemption and play 13 games in 2024. The other games are home games against Idaho, Texas Tech and Boise State, none of which the Ducks will want to give up. They’d have to give one up to play Oregon State, and tradition says the game would be in Corvallis. It’s going to be hard for the Ducks to get the Beavers on the schedule, which would be a shame.
The Big Ten Realignment Needs To Redo Its Partners
Big Ten Flex Protect Plus didn’t even last two months before its schedule became obsolete. The league now has to scramble to come up with a new schedule that can somehow placate 18 schools and television partners, and it has less than nine months to pull it off.
That’s going to be difficult, given that Iowa already had three rivals protected. Unless the league goes to 10 conference games, the Hawkeyes will lose at least one annual rival. That won’t sit well with anybody.
Travel Improves For Non-Revenue Sports
There’s more to this than football. The other sports actually will have an easier time with the Ducks and Huskies in the conference, because now they’ll have more travel partners in the West. It’s much easier for the Maryland women’s soccer team to fly to Los Angeles and Seattle for two games on one trip than it is to play in Los Angeles and fly back.
Other sports can do the same. Penn State isn’t close to anyone, but the league could set travel partners across the rest of the league and have two schools share the same flight. For example, Indiana baseball and Purdue softball could fly to Seattle and both play Washington in their respective sports, then head south to play Oregon, USC and UCLA before returning to Indiana. It’s still not going to be easy, but it’s going to be doable.
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