Paul Finebaum sees the Big Ten’s bold – and brazen – move last week to add UCLA and USC as dramatically shifting the power dynamic in college football. If it wasn’t already clear, there are two conferences that are dominant right now in the college sports world.
And then there is the ACC.
And then there is everybody else.
The Big Ten’s dramatic move to add two Pac-12 programs checks off all the right boxes. Storied sports programs, in particular football. AAU member institutions. A strong dedication and track record of success with non-revenue sports.
Oh, and a huge media market that is suddenly opened to the Big Ten.
Which leads Finebaum, the popular ESPN analyst and college sports insider, to think that the Big Ten didn’t just shake things up in the college football world. It now made itself a superpower.
“Give the commissioner of the Big Ten credit, Kevin Warren. He took a lot of flack two years ago when he shot the football part of the Big Ten down during COVID and wasn’t able to bring it back until late in the season,” Finebaum said on his ESPN show.
“But this is a very wiry move and it is clearly turning college football on its ear. And something that we have been talking about here for some time seems to be coming to fruition and that is the likelihood of two super conferences: the SEC and the Big Ten and quite frankly, nobody else really mattering.”
Finebaum is as connected as anyone in the SEC. When he speaks, the entire conference listens.
But Finebaum’s scope goes well beyond the SEC and he clearly foresees the issues at play for the ACC. The ACC and the Big Ten, along with the Pac-12, formed an ‘Alliance’ last fall to counteract the SEC’s big swoop for Texas and Oklahoma, a move that puts the Big 12 very much fighting for its survival.
But while the ACC is in better shape than say either the Big 12 or the Pac-12, it isn’t exactly thriving. It is a point certainly not lost in Finebaum’s analysis.
“And if you’re…
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