Sometimes it feels like college football realignment is like a tornado, sweeping through and changing life as we know it.
It’s actually more like a fault line, where tectonic plates are slowly shifting, causing the occasional earthquake to remind you it’s happening.
USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten was a big one. There may still be aftershocks but it’s more likely things will settle down for a while until the next jolt arrives in a couple of years.
The latest reporting from Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News backs that theory up.
Oregon, Washington not expected to move to Big Ten
“I’d be stunned if Washington and Oregon go to the Big Ten. The Big Ten will sit back for two years, then try to get Notre Dame,” Wilner’s source said.
According to Wilner, Oregon and Washington have two options: “make it work” in the Pac-12 or head to the Big 12. Their preference would be the former, which plays into the B1G’s hands.
Notre Dame is the obvious next target for the Big Ten, not the teams from the pacific northwest.
While it would make logistical sense to give the Los Angeles schools some regional company for scheduling reasons, it doesn’t look like the Big Ten is interested in aggressive expansion. The Los Angeles market and the USC and UCLA brands landed in their lap. If it’s not Notre Dame, they can afford to wait on the others.
These kinds of big financial decisions usually take time and consideration.
The Big 12 may still be able to convince the Pac-12 to merge. So realignment could pop off again soon. It’s just far from a certainty in the short term.