WeAreSC On3 7/1/22: Big Ten Conference Edition

WeAreSC On3 is a daily three-point briefing recapping news and notes surrounding USC Athletics. Today, we take a look at USC officially joining the Big Ten Conference and all of the fallout surrounding the landscaping-altering move.

USC to the Big Ten!

When the day began on Thursday morning, all was calm in the world of college football. But that calmness did not last for long. Later that morning, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News released a bombshell report that USC and UCLA plan to leave the Pac 12 and join the Big Ten Conference. By the late afternoon, the news was official: The Trojans and Bruins are on their way to the Big Ten.

The move comes as an absolute bombshell, and will drastically alter the future of college athletics. With Texas and Oklahoma set to join the SEC in a few years as well, it seems as though we are seeing the beginning of a major wave of conference realignment.

There are still a lot more questions than answers surrounding the move at this time. However, the Trojans and Bruins will not officially join the Big Ten until 2024, meaning that we still have two more years to get all of those questions sorted out.

Former Players Weigh In

Following USC’s stunning move to the Big Ten, numerous former players weighed in on Twitter. Although the reaction was somewhat mixed, the vast majority of fans and players were strongly in support of the move. In particular, two of the players with the strongest feelings on the matter were former USC running back LenDale White and blind long snapper Jake Olson.

Big 10 def don’t want these problems. We been kickin y’all ass!!! Oh yeah ohio st sux! 🤣🤣🤣

— LenDale White (@thereal_lendale) June 30, 2022

Only so many years can you take playing on the road on Friday nights, only so many times can you play at 7:30 PST in front of no national audience, only so many times you can deal with East Coast bias, something had to change and the PAC12 didn’t seem like they were willing to

— Jake Olson (@JakeOlson61) June 30, 2022

Pac 12 Responds

While the vast majority of Trojans were ecstatic following the announcement of USC’s move to the Big Ten, the same could not be said of the Pac 12 Conference. Yesterday afternoon, the conference put out a statement expressing their disappointment over the move.

pic.twitter.com/rdM2IEuQ6m

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) July 1, 2022

One thing is for certain: Pac 12 Media Day later this month should be super awkward.