2023 Big Ten winner odds, futures betting strategy: Ohio State, Michigan once again poised to be class of conference
Our preview of the 2023 college football season continues with the Big Ten
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Packing Sonny Liston-like power on the college football scene, the Big Ten's KO punch is lethal enough these days to take out entire conferences. Such is the case for the Pac-12, for decades a partner in the Rose Bowl but effectively dealt death blows by the Big Ten when first USC and UCLA, then Oregon and Washington, were hijacked for membership beginning next season. The recent simultaneous luring of the Ducks and Huskies had the trappings of a hostile corporate takeover, eliminating the Pac-12 as a recognizable entity moving forward and reaffirming the Big Ten's status as college football's true powerhouse, no matter what successes the SEC has had in recent years. Adding those teams out west has made the Big Ten the first true coast-to-coast league that geographically more resembles a pro league than a college conference.
No matter what success the SEC might claim on the field, the Big Ten is king at the box office, thanks in large part to the brainchild of former commissioner Jim Delany, the Big Ten Network, the biggest money-spinner of its sort in college sport thanks to ever-increasing media deals. The partnership with Fox has granted the BTN a position of strength with which to negotiate top tier cable TV clearance in every state with a conference member (which largely explains why Maryland and Rutgers, and their introduction of entire new regions into the conference footprint, were so coveted by the league a decade ago), and which will grow even stronger by adding the Pacific Time Zone to the mix.
Now the question is if the Big Ten is done expanding after growing to from 14 to 18 teams for the 2024 campaign. Considering the speed at which the college sports map has been altered this summer, news could change by the week. But for the moment, sources seem to suggest things will cool as the league plays wait-and-see with what might transpire in the ACC, where Florida State is making lots of noise about challenging the conference's grant-or-rights that extends all of the way to 2036.
Insiders suggest, however, that it's not necessarily Florida State, but rather North Carolina and Virginia, that might be in the Big Ten's crosshairs. In the meantime, Stanford and Cal are still waiting by the phone, hoping to be thrown a life preserver by the Big Ten as the Pac-12 sinks into the ocean, though Fox is reportedly cool on the idea, and would rather see what transpires in the ACC before making a next move. And there's always Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish have shown no inclination to budge despite the swirl of activity in the college sports industry. Stay tuned for further developments.
For one more season, then, the Big Ten still looks like it has for the past decade with 14 teams and a two-division format which for the first time didn't prevent the league from sending a pair of teams (Ohio State and Michigan) to the playoff a year ago. The power base in the league remains in the East, especially with the Wolverines' recent resurgence for Jim Harbaugh and reversing what had been a decade-long dominance of the bitter rivalry by Ohio State. This fall's showdown comes in Ann Arbor, though before then both will have to deal with James Franklin's always-menacing Penn State.
While it's almost surely a three-team race in the East, a case can be made for almost any entry aside from Northwestern in the West, where a couple most-splashy coaching hires in the country reside at Wisconsin (Luke Fickell) and Nebraska (Matt Rhule). Overall, there are four new coaches in the league this season, including Northwestern's David Braun, serving in an interim role after Pat Fitzgerald's dismissal in early July. Ryan Walters, long a decorated defensive coordinator at Illinois, also debuts at Purdue in the fall. The hottest seat in the conference is probably at Indiana, where Tom Allen's regime has lost a lot of steam the past couple of years and might need a bowl bid to survive into 2024.
Yet in what really seems to count in college sports these days, the Big Ten remains the leader in the media revenue race, and continues to put distance between itself and its other rivals.
Per Caesars Sportsbook
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