Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, their set of in-conference opponents has remained relatively stable. Every Cornhusker fan can count on annual matchups with regional rivals like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. However, starting in 2024, Nebraska’s schedule might look a little different, and it may feature a few more trips out west. That is because, starting in 2024, four west coast schools will be defecting to the Big Ten from the Pac-12: UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington.
“It’s going to impact the fans,” says senior Wilson Dittman, who covers Nebraska football. “There’s going to be a lot more travel time.”
The addition of four West Coast schools will make it much harder for die-hard Nebraska fans like Dittman to attend games on the road. This could become a reality for fans of many college teams across the country, since the changing landscape of college sports is pushing power conferences, like the Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC to add teams that are thousands of miles away from the schools already in the conference.
According to Dittman, “The problem with conference realignment is that it takes away the old conferences that were all so close together. All of the schools were in driving distance. At this point, you just have to survive and adapt to the current climate of college football and just make new rivalries.”
Nebraska was forced to do this twelve years ago, when they left the Big 12 for the Big Ten. After leaving traditional rivals like Colorado, Missouri, and Oklahoma behind, they quickly forged new ones with some of their current conference opponents.
Dittman points out that “Nebraska-Iowa, that kind of was a rivalry formed ten years ago and it worked really well.” He now sees an opportunity for Nebraska to create new rivalries with the four West Coast schools.
“Let’s see what happens with some of the new schools added to the Big Ten with this expansion.”
Dittman said he is optimistic about the opportunity to create new rivalries with the new Big Ten schools, but he is worried that the talent level of those schools could make it harder for Nebraska to compete in conference play.
“Nebraska is at the point where they’re trying to rebuild their program. By adding more competition, it puts them at more of a disadvantage.” He said he believes the more challenging schedule and greater competition for recruiting could prove difficult for Nebraska, who is looking to return to the postseason for the first time since 2016.
2024 is still a year away, and fans still do not know how the addition of four west coast schools will change the landscape of one of the most legendary conferences in college sports. All fans of Big Ten schools know is that 2024 is the beginning of a new, uncertain era of college football.
