The Big Ten made major news on Thursday with the addition of USC and UCLA, and is apparently interested in adding more schools to the league. However, that, for now, is reportedly being held up on Notre Dame.
Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported on Friday that Washington and Oregon have been told the Big Ten is “standing pat for now” and “waiting on a decision by Notre Dame.” The full tweet from Dodd is below:
Sources: Oregon and Washington have been told by @bigten that it is standing pat for now. Waiting on a decision by Notre Dame.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) July 1, 2022
There was a lot of buzz on Thursday evening that numerous schools — such as Oregon and Washington — had contacted the Big Ten about joining the league after the USC and UCLA news broke. So it doesn’t come as a surprise to hear from Dodd that both the Ducks and Huskies are looking to join the league. It is, however, a bit surprising to hear that their acceptance into the Big Ten is being in some way blocked by Notre Dame.
Things are moving very fast at this point but it sounds like the Big Ten is looking to add Notre Dame and if they do, then my assumption is they’ll also want to add three more schools to form a 20-team super conference. In doing that, Oregon and Washington would be two of the three additional teams. This, of course, is just speculation as we really don’t know what the Big Ten is looking to do right now but this report from Dodd at least shows the conference is still very much active in their expansion pursuit.
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