For all the noise surrounding USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12, no one is saying what is arguably the most important point. The conference is better with the pair bolting for the Big 10. At least from a college football standpoint. While the two Los Angeles schools seem to believe they are Hollywood marquee worthy, the reality is neither are as great as they think they are.
It’s a classic case of Los Angeles self-delusion. The Trojans and Bruins were Brad Pitt in their own minds. In the real world, they were basically Eldin, the painter from Murphy Brown who was inexplicably on the show for like eight seasons. Sure, the two universities were around but no one was tuning in to see them.
If anything, USC and UCLA were a nuisance to Pac-12 football. They were occasionally good enough to upset Oregon or Utah and ruin the conference’s College Football Playoff hopes but not good enough to actually compete. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at some numbers.
USC has gone 95-54 since Pete Carroll left for the NFL after 2009. In Pac-12 play, the Trojans are 70-36. These aren’t terrible. But it’s also not much better than what Mike Leach managed to accomplish at Washington State with far fewer resources. This is nothing more than a brand name desperately trying to cling to relevancy in a world that may have already passed it by. USC is the Best Buy of college football.
On the other hand, UCLA just flat-out sucks. Since their 1998 Rose Bowl season, the Bruins have gone 146-136, including a comical 95-102 in conference play. That’s right, they are under .500 in the Pac-12 over the past 23 seasons. The Big 10 could have taken Oregon State if the standard is that low. And Corvallis is a hell of a lot nicer than Pasadena.
Also, for as much as the Big 10 loves to protect the Rose Bowl, they really poop in the bed here. That USC versus Oregon Rose Bowl will be absolutely comical when it happens.
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USC and UCLA should know better than leaving the Pac-12
The main issue with USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12 is the hubris they are acting with. Instead of seeing the plight of Nebraska and Maryland in the Big 10 and trying to steer clear of it, the pair of LA universities are literally repeating history.
For some reason in America these days, businesses will look at the failure of others and chart the same exact course under the following logic. Either they refuse to acknowledge the clear as day similarities between themselves and the previous failure or wrongly believe they are inherently better than the company that failed with no tangible proof of improvement.
USC is Nebraska. And the Huskers time in the Big 10 has been a disaster. Sure, someone is making a lot of money, but that hasn’t paid dividends on the football field where the school seems totally unable to run out a winning team. Seriously, how has all this extra cash helped Nebraska? And, at this point, their fanbase would gladly return it all in order to be back in the Big 12.
Meanwhile, the similarities between UCLA and Maryland are impossible to ignore. Two basketball-led schools with mediocre football programs. Now each will sacrifice games with rivals for meaningless matchups in places no one really wants to be in hopes of making a few bucks for someone.
I don’t know who will be pocketing all that cash at each school, but hopefully there is enough to comfort them for the absolute irrelevant existence they face in the Big 10. I’m sure those glamor 9am PST kickoffs against Minnesota and Rutgers are going to be real gamechangers. Now they will be ignored on both sides of the Mississippi instead of just the eastern part.
The Pac-12 is a great conference that gets shade thrown on it because people on the east coast and in the Midwest aren’t smart enough to live in the world’s best time zone. Good riddance to both USC and UCLA because neither deserves to be in it. And please take Bill Walton’s awful color commentary with you on the way out.
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