Gene Smith Shares Importance of USC, UCLA Additions for Ohio State

The Big Ten’s impending additions of USC and UCLA appear to be very popular moves in and around the Ohio State football program. 

Athletic director Gene Smith spoke to the media on Friday after Thursday’s bombshell news, which culminated in an official vote, and the two schools announcing their intentions to join the league in 2024. He believes the two schools can help “carry some weight” for the Big Ten, a football league dominated by the Buckeyes in recent years.

“For Ohio State, it frankly provides two other schools in unbelievable markets that frankly can carry some weight,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, Ohio State has been a program for the Big Ten over the years that has been at the top of the pyramid in the Big Ten and carried a significant amount of weight in the value of the Big Ten. Now we have two others who can contribute to that weight, and I’m really excited about that. That’s no disparagement to any other school, that’s just reality.”

Smith’s comments come on the heels of those that former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer made to the Big Ten Network on Thursday, in which he lauded the added recruiting possibilities for existing Big Ten programs with the two Los Angeles schools coming into the fold.

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The Trojans and Bruins are certainly two valuable brands for the Big Ten, but there are questions about their ability to compete on a football level with the Buckeyes and other league powers, at least at the moment.

Ohio State is 93–11 with a national title and a slew of College Football Playoff appearances since 2014, the first year of the postseason format for the sport. USC is 70–41 while UCLA is 46–48 during that same time period. Neither has made a Playoff appearance.

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