There are a million things that could be said about realignment. Some genius just last week considered Washington and Oregon near the bottom of the Big Ten’s expansion list, yet here we are already with the conference increasing in number before USC and UCLA play a single down as Big Ten members.
While the merit and logistics of realignment are relevant and important, I wanted to take a moment to talk about a few pieces of fallout on the arrival of two more Pac-12 opponents into the new Big Ten. Despite geographic distance, these two conferences have always been kindred spirits for multiple reasons, so the demise of one — at the hands of the other — is a significant moment.