How this summer changed college football forever
As training camps begin across the country, there is a noticeable feeling of uncertainty casting a cloud over the usually gleeful anticipation of the start of the season. Not only for a team like USC, which is looking to welcome the Lincoln Riley era with a playoff appearance but for almost every team in the nation.
This summer, the structure of college football has shifted beneath our feet more than perhaps any other offseason in history. In its wake is a complete restructuring of all of the Power Five conferences, driven by the new college football NIL rules. Out of the 10 D1-A conferences, 7 have undergone changes in membership just in the last year. Now, players, coaches and fans are anxiously awaiting how their teams will fare after the next major realignment.
The first domino fell when Oklahoma and Texas announced plans to leave the Big 12 to join the SEC in July 2021. To make up for these losses, the Big 12 added Brigham Young University, Cincinnati, Houston, and University of Central Florida. The Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC also responded, arranging a scheduling alliance to compete against an increasingly dominant SEC. Then, after some quiet, the previously unfathomable decision that USC and rival UCLA will join the Big Ten rocked the sports world, accelerating conference realignment rumors.
The most significant implication of these realignments might be the irrelevancy, and possible destruction, of the Pac-12. A once mighty conference that has won more national championships than any other conference in history might soon be reduced to a few mediocre teams, or worse. If the Pac-12 fails to solidify a lucrative TV deal with ESPN and FOX in the current negotiation period, the Big 12 or Big Ten might easily snag the few remaining impressive programs.
As the Power Five becomes the Power Three or even Two, one may wonder whether realignment is changing college sports for the worse. The formation of these “super-conferences” will certainly be entertaining, but it also causes some outrageous logistical challenges.
President Folt acknowledged some of these issues in her statement regarding the Trojan’s move to the Big Ten. While the challenges may not be as significant for football, as they only play once a week and have more resources, other programs are more susceptible to these issues. Will USC basketball have to travel to play Rutgers, Michigan, and Indiana in the same week; probably not, but it is going to be extremely difficult to avoid dealing with some burdensome scheduling issues.
In any scenario, it will be difficult for the families of USC athletes to watch them play as they travel across the country, and does not bode well for athletes’ academic prospects.
Besides the geographical chaos occurring mostly in the Big Ten, realignment has destroyed some of the most storied rivalries that have lasted centuries like Missouri vs. Kansas and Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State.
Fans care about certain games because of the history and regional rivalries, much of which are being dissolved by realignment. I’m sure many people will tune in to watch USC fly from Los Angeles to play Michigan in the Big House in below-freezing weather, but is that really something that should be happening every year?
Some critics argue that with players, sometimes in dubious ways, making hundreds of thousands of dollars through NIL and playing games stretching across the entire country, college football has just become another professional league with younger players.
While I support the move to allow players to benefit from their name, image, and likeness, the blanket approval of NIL with almost no rules on behalf of the NCAA created a worsening wild-west environment. If the NCAA moved to regulate NIL years ago, their hand wouldn’t have been forced so far in the pro-NIL direction.
Boosters who are openly offering millions to convince players to join their programs have turned the transfer portal into a money-making vehicle more than anything else. USC is not innocent, bringing in wide receiver Jordan Addison from Pitt on an eye-watering 3.5 million dollar NIL deal. Other programs, like Oregon, have created NIL marketplaces, expanding the profitability of college athletes.
Beyond some of the deliberate “pay-to-play” activity, the new anything-goes NIL culture tarnishes one of the best parts of college sports, the unmistakable emotion that the athletes on the field love your school as much as you do.
There’s a unique bond between the fans and athletes in college sports because they chose to attend the same school, sometimes for similar reasons. This is radically different from professional athletes, who are expected to prioritize financial decisions and are sometimes traded yearly.
This bond will continue to weaken as players abuse the transfer portal to rake in profits. The NCAA must regain some semblance of order in the NIL world to regain the consciousness and integrity of the game.
At the end of the day, all of these changes are about money. Maybe it is naive to think college football wasn’t always about money, but something about the recent moves in the sport seem particularly far from its founding purpose. Hopefully, college football does not lose its spark and some level of normalcy can be restored.
It is undeniable that the move to the Big Ten could bring an era of excitement and attention to USC’s football program that rivals some of the best times in the legendary history of Trojan football. I hope that does not come at the cost of student athletes’ mental and physical well-being or the spirit of the game.
In any event, the Trojans will still have a couple of seasons in the Pac-12 before facing some of college football’s most formidable programs in 2024, and the college football world is holding its breath.
Ethan Horowitz is a junior writing about the ever-changing college football landscape.