Arguably the biggest seismic shift in conference realignment history just happened. The Big Ten has now added the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins, giving them a presence on both coasts. Two west coast teams moving to a conference in the midwest wouldn’t seem to affect Tennessee football, but it does.
It’s not exactly clear what effect this move will have yet, but you can bet it will change how other conferences operate, and that includes the SEC, meaning it also includes Rocky Top. One thing that already is clear is that the alliance of the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 is dead.
Although SEC expansion last year with the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners was the biggest deal in terms of adding blue blood programs, the Big Ten outdid them with this expansion just given their geographic footprint now. Let’s take a look at five potential ways this move could affect Tennessee football in the future.
The Trojans and Bruins leaving the Pac-12 for the B1G could impact the Tennessee football Volunteers.
5. Potentially better non-conference games
Nick Saban has been a proponent of just playing all Power Five games for years now. The Vols have been one of the better SEC teams when it comes to scheduling high-profile Power Five opponents, and that dates back to the Johnny Majors era. Well, they could end up playing more high-profile or just more Power Five teams in the future.
With this move, you could potentially see an SEC and Big Ten alliance in which they create their own league and expand further (more on that later), at which point they could just all play each other. Even if that doesn’t happen, though, there’s another avenue for better non-conference games in the future.
Given how often the SEC and Big Ten play each other in bowl games, if Tennessee football keeps climbing up the ladder under Heupel, they’ll be matched up with more highly touted Big Ten teams more often in years they don’t make the playoffs. As a result, better bowls are part of this.