PSU Point/Counterpoint: Should the Big Ten have added the teams from the Pac-12?
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Yes: West Coast teams solidify conference's future
If it were up to me, all the Eastern schools would have aligned in the 1980s and formed the conference Joe Paterno had proposed.
And Penn State would still be playing Pitt, West Virginia and Syracuse annually -- with fans being able to drive to those games -- along with whomever would have followed, maybe Maryland, Miami and Florida State.
But how long can we live in the past?
College sports mortgaged its collective soul many years ago with greedy realignments while chasing the ultimate buck at the expense of regional and traditional rivalries.
So, based on that, my answer on whether the Big Ten expansion should have included the gems of the Pac-12 is a reluctant yes.
If history has taught us anything, it's that this game of musical chairs terrifies the participants who fear being caught standing when the music stops.
Knowing that, the additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington have solidified Penn State's future in the Big Ten and the future of the conference itself.
You can say it doesn't make sense for the non-revenue sports teams to be adding this much distance to their schedules, but those schedules are already full of travel so logistics can be worked out with sensible partners (playing USC and UCLA on the same trip, etc.)
The PSU baseball team played a three-game series at Stanford last year and then came home for a couple days before leaving for a series at Davidson. So travel is a way of life for the collegiate athlete.
Most people will focus on football and rightfully so.
The expansion has already brought more anticipation to Penn State's regular-season schedule with UCLA, USC and Washington this season and Oregon next year.
Instead of what largely had been a two-game regular season -- Ohio State and Michigan -- the Lions are approaching a four-game gauntlet of at USC, at Wisconsin, Ohio State and Washington.
UCLA is a 28-point underdog at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, but it won't be rebuilding forever, plus it will be cool to see its basketball team in the Jordan Center presumably next season (the Nittany Lion basketball team goes to UCLA and USC this year on a two-game swing).
Playing a tougher football schedule, bolstered by the Pac-12 additions, should bode well for the Lions, who will likely be in the 12-team playoff field contention most years.
The SEC, the nation's other super-power conference, certainly isn't standing pat. It announced the additions of Texas and Oklahoma in 2021.
The Big Ten countered by poaching USC and UCLA in 2022 and raised the ante with the confirmation of Oregon and Washington a year later.
Football teams miss less class time than any other sport, and with today's technology allowing for remote learning, the academic requirements don't have to be terribly compromised.
Besides, through NIL and changing times, we're now dealing with professional athletes. They're all being paid and some (read: quarterbacks, skill position players) quite well.
So if that means a trip to West Coast trip every couple years, so be it.
Again, we don't have to like all aspects of it, but it's hard to argue against the Big Ten's vision.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.