Who Will Be Ohio State's 'Permanent Rivals' After Big Ten Expansion?

"The Game" is an annual rivalry that will never be tampered with no matter how much the Big Ten expands, but with the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins joining the conference in 2024, the Ohio State Buckeyes could play a trio of teams every year.

Author:
Casey Smith
Mar 5, 2023 8:32 AM EST

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Ohio State Buckeyes

When USC and UCLA join the Big Ten in 2024, the conference will be faced with a scheduling conflict.

With the conference's current format, all six teams in the respective divisions play each other with the other three games being filled by teams in the opposite division.

The general consensus is that the Big Ten will eliminate divisions once the two West Coast schools join, but how will the conference have a uniform system to prevent chaotic, randomized scheduling?

CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli proposed a system where each of the 16 schools has "three permanent rivals" then divvying up the remaining 12 schools into two groups of six, alternating between those same six opponents from one year to the next.

Fornelli said the criteria for the rival selection was "history, geography and television," since the new TV deal with CBS, FOX and NBC will likely have a say in the annual matchups they want to broadcast.

Ohio State's three proposed permanent rivals would be Michigan, Penn State and Purdue.

Fornelli placed a level of significance to trying to preserve rivalry trophy games as much as possible. He said he wanted Ohio State's third rival to be Illinois for the Illibuck Trophy, but wanted UCLA to have an easier geographical rival in the Fighting Illini.

The Buckeyes haven't played Illinois since 2017.

Of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and USC, Fornelli said the Buckeyes had the toughest annual draw of the four, as they would face the Wolverines and Nittany Lions annually.

With reports that the Big Ten may be interested in further expansion that would muddy the scheduling waters even further, but Fornelli said even in his proposed format, the "permanent rivals" should be reevaluated every few seasons.