The expansion of the Big 10, and the ramifications for Michigan football
Diving into the new-look Big 10
I had the honor of speaking with the leading narrator of Michigan athletics, John U. Bacon. He talked about how the next few years will be the most influential years of college football since 1906, during the formation of the NCAA. This new era is the inflection point that we will all live through.
Now, the current Big 10 will look very different from the one that previous generations lived through. College football will re-align into something we haven’t ever seen. I will hope to cover this change as it happens.
How does this affect Michigan?
The traditional East/West format of the Big 10 will be gone. This means that:
Michigan will not be able to play every team every year, except for a few “locked” matchups. For Michigan, they will always play Ohio State and Michigan State. Other matchups like Penn State and Wisconsin will not happen every year.
The Big 10 championship will be more competitive than ever. In the past, the winner of the Big 10 East played the winner of the West. This often resulted in Michigan or Ohio State playing a weaker opponent such as Purdue or Iowa. Instead, the Big 10 championship will feature the two teams with the best record. This opens up brand new possibilities. USC and UCLA could make a push against powerhouses like Michigan and Ohio State. Penn State could make their first championship in years. We could even see a Michigan/Ohio State rematch.
The playoffs will be totally different. Obviously, the Big 10 winner will have a playoff spot. Now with the 12 team playoff, we could see a scenario where 2-4 other Big 10 teams could sneak their way in. Realistically, there’s a possibility for about half the Big 10 teams to have a shot at the playoffs in any given year. This also means that teams like USC, Michigan, and Ohio State will have an almost guaranteed spot. This, of course, is assuming they can all retain their current run of dominance.
The driving force behind all of this change is, of course, money. The Big 10 expansion gets in the way of longstanding tradition between schools, fans, and players. We can only watch to see how the next years will play out.