College football insider makes case for Stanford to join Big Ten with interesting caveat

With conference realignment still happening and programs around the country waiting and seeing where they will end up, Action Sports' Brett McMurphy offered a solution for Stanford.

Well...Kind of. As we all know, Stanford is one of the four Pac-12 programs remaining following four heading off to the Big Ten and the other four to to the Big 12. There were discussions with the ACC, but Stanford and Cal both came up a vote short of joining the conference and have been left waiting to see if they'll change their minds.

There was once a belief that they'd get an invitation to the Big Ten following the news that Oregon and Washington were joining, but that invitation has yet to come. Instead, Stanford is waiting on the ACC, may be a part of a new Pac-12 that will be infused with American Athletic Conference and Mountain West programs, or go independent.

While there is confidence that they will end up in a Power 5 conference, McMurphy suggested an idea that would see Stanford in the Big Ten in every sport except football.

What Big Ten should do is add Stanford as an all-sports member in everything but football. Have the Cardinal play football as an Independent or in a G5 league & then possibly add them to B1G in football in the future
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 14, 2023

While Stanford can certainly pull off being an independent, it is interesting to see the treatment their football program is getting thanks to the last few years. From 2019-2022 Stanford went 14-28 including their 4-2 COVID season, but unfortunately for them those three losing seasons in four years have far overshadowed their six 10+ win seasons and nine seasons of winning seasons that saw them win three New Year's six bowl games in five trips from 2009-2018.

It appears fans, analysts, and other conferences have become prisoners of the moment and forgot just how dominant Stanford's program was when they were at their best.