Previewing the very big Big Ten: What’s new in 2024 and what to know about all 18 teams

CHICAGO — Welcome to the 2024 college football season.

The transfer portal is closed, preseason camps are over and there soon will be a slight chill in the air. Regional conferences are no more, with the Big Ten having officially expanded from 14 to 18 schools with a footprint that now stretches from coast to coast.

To help you prepare for the season, we’ve put together this preview with the information you need to know.

Here’s a look at the new, very big Big Ten.

Who’s new

Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington are set to begin their inaugural Big Ten seasons.

A little more than two years since the Big Ten’s Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously to admit UCLA and USC and more than a year since they voted for the admission of Oregon and Washington, the 18-team conference kicks off for the first time. The addition of the four West Coast universities makes the Big Ten the largest conference in the country.

With the introduction of the new members, Big Ten schools will face extensive travel. UCLA will travel the most, racking up more than 25,000 round-trip miles this season.

No divisional format

The Big Ten introduced a schedule model that includes 12 protected matchups and eliminates divisions, making this the first year the conference championship game will pit the two teams with the best Big Ten records. The conference announced a six-step tiebreaker process Monday. Since the Big Ten implemented East and West divisions in 2014, the East winner had won every conference title.

The model, called “Flex Protect XVIII,” maintains a nine-game conference schedule and contains both guaranteed annual matchups and rotating ones. Every conference pairing will take place at least twice in a four-year span, once at each school.

Here are the protected games:

— Illinois-Northwestern

— Illinois-Purdue

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/previewing-very-big-big-ten-093000212.html

Author : Chicago Tribune

Publish date : 2024-08-30 09:30:00

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