ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten is in its first season with 18 teams, and commissioner Tony Petitti said Thursday at Big Ten Media Days that the conference is sticking with that number for the time being.
“Right now, I could tell you there’s no discussions about [expansion past 18] at all,” Petitti said. “I think we feel really good about where we are. We’ve got a lot of work to get it right, and not just getting it right for football or men’s basketball, women’s basketball, but it’s everything else that we do.”
The Big Ten went from 14 to 18 teams this offseason as it expanded the conference with USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington. Despite these additions, Petitti said Thursday that the conference does not plan to increase the 20-game Big Ten men’s basketball schedule. That means teams will play everyone once and three teams at home and on the road.
On the football side, Oregon is one of five undefeated Big Ten teams, including conference wins over UCLA and Michigan State. USC is off to a 3-1 start and moved to spots to No. 11 in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
Washington is 3-2 and most recently lost 21-18 at Rutgers in its second Big Ten game, following a 24-5 win over Northwestern. UCLA’s transition to a new conference has been the least favorable so far, beginning the football season 1-3 with Big Ten losses to Indiana and Oregon.
In the unofficial Big Ten basketball media poll, UCLA leads the newcomers after being picked third, followed by Oregon, picked sixth. The voters expect a challenging first year in the Big Ten for USC, which was picked 14th, and Washington, coming in at 15th.
