How many teams are in the Big Ten now? Explaining the new-look conference for 2024 college football season

The Big Ten is nearly double its name heading into the 2024 college football season.

Four new teams joined the conference from the Pac-12, and the addition of Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington has created a coast-to-coast conference complete with a longer version of the popular map commercial.

In a new season shaped my massive realignment within the sport, the Big Ten will be part of that change. A view of the new-look conference here:

How many teams are in the Big Ten now?

The Big Ten will have 18 teams in 2024 with the addition of Pac-12 schools Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington.

The Big Ten will not have divisions for the 2024 season. The Big Ten added divisions in the 2011 college football season and used the name Legends and Leaders from 2011-13. The Big Ten revamped that and split into East and West divisions.

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Big Ten teams 2024

A look at the 18 schools in the Big Ten (in alphabetical order)

Will the Big Ten have divisions in 2024?

The Big Ten will not have divisions for the 2024 season. The Big Ten added divisions in the 2011 college football season and used the name Legends and Leaders from 2011-13. The Big Ten revamped that and split into East and West divisions.

Now, the top two teams from the conference will play in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Dec. 7. The conference has a tie-breaker procedure in place should three or more teams have the same record at the end of the regular season.

Why are Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington in the Big Ten?

USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2022. That shake-up was one year after Oklahoma and Texas announced their intention to join the SEC.

The following summer, the Pac-12 imploded when a new television contract could not be secured, and that means four schools that used to be traditional Big Ten rivals in the Rose Bowl are now in the conference.

Last year, as part of several realignment shuffles, Oregon and Washington joined the Big Ten conference. The Ducks and Huskies will not receive full revenue shares from the conference's television deals for the next six seasons.

Big Ten expansion history

The Big Ten took its name in 1950 when Michigan State joined the conference, and those 10 traditional schools – Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin –played together in the conference until 1992.

Penn State – then an independent – became the 11th team in 1993. Nebraska left the Big 12 and joined the Big Ten for the 2011 college football season. Maryland and Rutgers were added to the Big Ten in 2014.