How Wisconsin football reacted to Oregon and Washington joining the Big Ten
It was another wild offseason for the Big Ten conference as 2024 will now feature a complete shakeup for one of the nation’s top leagues.
Not only will the Big Ten add UCLA and USC in 2024, but Oregon and Washington are following their former Pac-12 rivals to the conference.
With the addition of Oregon and Washington, the Big Ten will now be at 18 teams in 2024, making it the largest conference in the history of college football.
An era of super conferences has arrived, but how does Wisconsin feel about it all? Here are reactions from the team, the school, and fans to news of the additions:
The news was first reported by Brett McMurphy of Action Network:
BREAKING: Oregon & Washington joining Big Ten, becoming latest schools to leave Pac-12; putting Pac-12 future in doubt, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ 👀👀👀https://t.co/FtVKNdjHuD
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 4, 2023
Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh is thrilled with the additions:
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) August 5, 2023
Conference championship game at the Rose Bowl? Why not...
The NEW Big Ten (B18 for short).
West:
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Oregon
UCLA
USC
Washington
WisconsinEast:
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan St
Northwestern
Ohio St
Penn St
Purdue
RutgersConference championship game in the Rose Bowl.
See you in 2024.
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) August 4, 2023
The real questions from BadgersWire's Ben Kenney:
Who could possibly care about Washington this, Oregon that, boards of regents, Apple TV etc, when Wisconsin enters 2023 with a lefty punter from Australia.
— Ben Kenney (@benzkenney) August 4, 2023
Wisconsin will see Washington State later this year:
Here’s Wazzu coach Jake Dickert’s reaction to the news of Washington and Oregon’s defection to the Big Ten pic.twitter.com/UQRkOMkuCc
— Greg Woods (@GregWWoods) August 4, 2023
What are the best stadiums in this new conference?
Which stadiums are on your must-visit list with the new additions in 2024? 👀@AdamBreneman81 listed his Top 10 ➡️ do you agree? pic.twitter.com/JGZ07Xooti
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) August 8, 2023
The Big Ten is at the top of the list:
Power 5 Conference football TV deals, in order based on annual avg. payout per school:
1. Big Ten (starts 2023) – $80-100 mil
2. SEC (starts 2024) – $70 mil
3. Big 12 (starts 2025) – $31.6 mil
4. ACC (current, thru 2035-36) – $30.6 mil
5. Pac-12 (start TBD) – ~$20 mil reportedly— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) August 1, 2023
Could we have three divisions?
Came out with this last year.. cross division Big Ten rivalry games would stay locked in #BigTen
Three division champs.. best interest of the league is have the two highest CFP ranked division champs go to Indy pic.twitter.com/gOlpx2n9sa
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) August 4, 2023
Oh, Rutgers
Ranking all of the most recent programs entering the Big Ten according to which schools 'feel' most Big Ten to me.
1. Neb
2. Washington
3. UCLA
4. USC
5. Oregon
6. Maryland
7. Intentional blank space
8. Rutgers— Ryan Harings (@RyanAndBucky) August 8, 2023
USC's Lincoln Riley on the news:
Lincoln Riley on the Big Ten expansion news:
“Our university and leadership made the decision to go into the future with the Big Ten after this season because it was the best thing for USC. It was not contingent on any other schools, on anything else.”https://t.co/Lv133NZsEc pic.twitter.com/zLsHPIGNWo
— Ryan Young (@RyanYoungRivals) August 5, 2023
How the new additions fit in:
HOW WILL UW+OU FIT INTO THE B1G? 📊
We've talked about this since 2022, but @UWAthletics and @GoDucks are both going to be great for the @bigten!
Here are a few quick metrics comps on how they fit in terms of:
— Academic rank
— Research
— Football history
— All-Sports success pic.twitter.com/jl3orNv9N2— Tony Altimore (@TJAltimore) August 5, 2023
