It's a brave new world for the Big Ten conference once again. The team will officially expand to 18 teams beginning this fall when Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington begin coming to a football stadium and high-definition viewing experience near you. Add that to the historical programs that have already been a part of all the shenanigans in the conference, along with an expanded College Football Playoff, and this year is going to be something to behold.
But how will it all work? What about the news schools, players, locations, coaches, and culture all mixing together to make a football casserole we don't know quite about yet? Inquiring football minds are curious about some things in the new Big Ten, and so are we.
Maybe the thoughts and musings that bounce around in our head aren't quite the same as yours, but there are still some things we can't wait to see this fall with all eighteen teams duking it out for conference supremacy and more.
Here's a look at five burning questions for this upcoming Big Ten football season.
No. 1 - How will the new West Coast teams fit into everything?
Everyone seems to feel pretty good about Oregon being a player in not only the Big Ten championship race, but in the national title picture as well. The talent returning and schedule should allow for some lofty goals, but will the travel and new culture be too much? How far of a slide does Washington encounter with the loss of some very key personnel and coaching? Can USC travel with an actual defense this season? Will UCLA do more than look good in those powder-blue uniforms? It'll be interesting to see how the players and style of play with the old Pac-12 schools mesh with the Big Ten and what it has meant for years now with teams like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State.
No. 2 - Can Michigan reload?
Sorry Buckeye fans, Michigan has owned the Big Ten for three-straight years now and to rub it all in, the Wolverines took home the CFP national championship last season. The Wolverines lost their head coach and some assistants, along with a lot of personnel to the NFL. However, there's still talent ready to step in, but will the new faces and schedule be a little too much to expect a four-peat and run to a national championship again? The good news is they play these sorts of things out on the field of play, so we'll find out soon enough, especially when Michigan takes on Texas early in the year as a barometer of sorts.
No. 3 - Is Ohio State ready to reclaim its spot atop the conference?
The Big Ten was colored Scarlet and Gray for almost two decades until Michigan was able to get the secret decoder ring to dethrone Ohio State. There have still been some really good seasons in Columbus, but things aren't measured in really good terms on the banks of the Olentangy. It's championship or despair with one of the best programs in the history of college football. The Buckeyes have a lot of guys returning who should be in the NFL now, got a couple of home runs in the transfer portal, and made some pretty good coaching moves. Oregon will be a challenge, but with Michigan coming to Columbus with massive defections, could OSU be ready to put the crown on again?
No. 4 - What will all of this travel look like?
With the additions of the former Pac-12 teams, a road contest will result in more air miles being accumulated than prior (Note to players; if you haven't signed up for a frequent flyer program, might want to do it now). What kind of advantage will that present for home-standing teams not making those long trips? It's the new norm, and it'll be interesting to see what happens when some of the legacy Big Ten teams head out West and vice versa. Will all of that time on a plane take a little punch out of teams and be a great equalizer? What kind of practice and training timelines will have to be adjusted to compensate?
No. 5 - So what about the new Big Ten championship format?
In case you lost sight of it with all of the change swirling around the conference and college football in general, we're here to remind you that the Big Ten champion will be crowned a little differently this season. The divisions have been thrown out the window, and the championship game will now pit the top two teams in the conference against each other. Yes, that means we could have a rematch between, say, Ohio State and Oregon, or Michigan and Penn State. You could legitimately have the Buckeyes and Wolverines play on the traditional date and turn around and play each other just a week later, only to face off again in the 12-team College Football Playoff. That scenario exists beyond Ann Arbor and Columbus and might be something to monitor in Eugene, Happy Valley, and other Big Ten college towns as well. It's all going to be a hoot.
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