With their summer 2022 joint declaration of intent to leave the Pac-12 in 2024, Los Angeles-based rivals UCLA and Southern California began a groundswell that fundamentally changed the college football landscape. The two programs hope to find stable footing as they begin membership in the Big Ten. The first two newcomers in the Big Ten's Western expansion, which also includes Oregon and Washington with their Pac-12 exits announced in August 2023, add the nation's second-largest media market and brand recognition to the conference.
The promise of high-profile matchups fueled the move to expand the Big Ten from coast to coast, a topic that first-year UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster touched on at Wednesday's edition of Big Ten media days in Indianapolis. "That's why we're excited for the Big Ten, just getting opportunities to play in a lot of stadiums that you usually wouldn't get an opportunity to," he said when asked about the Bruins traveling to Penn State's Beaver Stadium for the first meeting of the two programs since 1968. Initial intrigue is undeniable as fresh as the pairings will be.
But the ability of UCLA and USC to compete with, and not merely play against the upper echelon of the Big Ten, is a hot topic upon their introduction to the league. The Bruins and Trojans left the Pac-12 with 54 combined conference football championships -- but just one in the College Football Playoff era. USC's 2017 Pac-12 title was its first since 2008 and the program's last of 37 claimed .