INDIANAPOLIS — Welcome to the Big Tent Conference, folks.
Step inside and watch the circus if you’ve got the stomach for it and the ability to suspend disbelief.
The conference’s name itself has been more than a little goofy since 1993, when an 11th member — Penn State — started knocking heads with Michigan, Ohio State and all the rest. It got goofier in 2011 when Nebraska made it a dozen, and again in 2014 when Maryland and Rutgers increased membership to 14. And now? Say hello to Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington, which technically don’t join the conference until Aug. 2.
That’s 18 in the “Ten,” for those of you scoring at home.
Make that in the Tent.
“It’s just four more good teams that’ll make everybody better,” Illinois coach Bret Bielema said on Day 1 of the league’s annual pre-training camp media event at Lucas Oil Stadium.
It feels like it’s more of practically everything — more money, more chaos, more excess — though certainly not more when it comes to the traditions that sustained college football for decades. Many of those have died or are dying, not that those involved in the sport have time to care.
“I think it’s just part of growing, right?” Bielema said. “It’s just the evolution of the times. Times are changing. If you try to stay in the past, that’s probably where you’re going to remain. You’ve got to move into the future.”
The future has brought a previously unthinkable wave of expansion to the four remaining power conferences that makes very little conventional sense, which somehow is only too fitting. The SEC added Texas and Oklahoma, increasing to 16 schools. The Big 12 lost Texas and Oklahoma but added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah and now sits at 16 as well. And the ACC added SMU, Stanford and California, presumably because nothing says “Atlantic Coast” quite like the San Francisco Bay.
There is much speculation about where all this is headed, especially in light of the expanded College Football Playoff, up to 12 teams for the first time from four. And with every development in college football that seems to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, it becomes more possible the schools in the so-called Power Four leagues will eventually break away from those in the so-called Group of Five leagues, effectively creating a new top division in the sport.
The Big Ten — which has the sweetest television rights package in college football, with an $8 billion deal with Fox, CBS and NBC in addition to having games on FS1, the Big Ten Network and Peacock — might have the most juice of all the conferences and was happy for an occasion to flex its muscles.
“College football has never been stronger,” commissioner Tony Petitti said, “especially in the Big Ten conference.”
Under the new playoff format, the field will include the five highest-ranked conference champions along with the next seven highest-ranked teams, with one guaranteed spot for the highest-ranked Group of Five champion. More than ever, making the playoff will be the primary — if not the only — emphasis for every heavyweight program and for all those, like Illinois and Northwestern, endeavoring to ascend to that level. This is why all the power leagues have gotten rid of divisions, to ensure championship games are played between the top two dogs in the playoff hunt.
And — especially for the SEC and the Big Ten, which should easily be the two best conferences competitively going forward — there could and should be more than two dogs in the hunt. Ohio State is the 2024 Big Ten favorite, with Oregon nipping at the Buckeyes’ heels, but Michigan is the defending national champ, Penn State and Iowa are expected to be excellent, Washington was in the national title game last season, Wisconsin could jump back up to its customary prominence at any time. It’s a long list of schools with playoff-level expectations and fan bases that will be pleased by nothing less.
Illinois and Northwestern would like to see themselves as being on that list, or at least as getting closer. In a Cleveland.com poll of 27 reporters covering the conference, the Illini and Wildcats were predicted to finish 13th and 14th in the standings, respectively. That doesn’t make them the bearded lady and the three-eyed man of this circus, but it isn’t particularly encouraging.
Nevertheless, the landscape is changing fast and all at once. Speaking of “landscape,” that word was on the lips of all six coaches who addressed the media Tuesday, who used to come to this event and spend most of their time talking about their rosters. That’s not the case anymore.
“In this rapidly evolving landscape, there are challenges, for sure,” Northwestern coach David Braun said, “but with those challenges also comes opportunities.”
The pay-for-play era has begun. Remaining prohibitions on name, image and likeness compensation are being challenged in the courts. The transfer portal is busier than ever, an even bigger influence on the sport than anyone ever envisioned it would be.
Saturdays mornings in the fall? Rivalry games 100 years old and more? Player development? Arriving at a school as a wide-eyed 18-year-old and leaving it in a cap and gown? These things aren’t what they used to be.
This is the Big Ten.
Make that the Big Tent.