Some Immediate Thoughts on UW as a Proposed Big Ten Member

A lot of things are about to change involving conferences, bowl games, recruiting and program stability.

Some thoughts on what appears to be the imminent departures of the University of Washington and Oregon uprooting from the Pac-12 Conference and taking their football programs and the rest of their athletic departments and joining the Big Ten.

Will Ohio State now put Washington and a trip to Seattle back on the schedule for 2024?

A Big Ten school most likely won't hire away Kalen DeBoer from the Huskies any time soon, Midwest roots and all ... because he'll be a Big Ten coach while wearing purple and gold colors.

The UW hasn't seen the last of USC and UCLA coming to Husky Stadium or playing in Los Angeles during the regular season.

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. appears to have come up just a season shy of possibly playing against Indiana, his former team. 

The Apple Cup against Washington State likely now becomes a season-opening or month-opening non-conference game rather than a Thanksgiving bonus play.

UW football recruiting should get a huge boost in what amounts to the creation of a super conference, maybe keeping a local talent such as JT Tuimoloau or a Emeka Egbuka home in the Northwest instead of running off to Columbus.

A College Football Playoff berth could be decidedly harder to land in an expanded Big Ten rather than it would have been attainable in the cozy little 10-team Pac-12 configuration that was proposed, but that's a small price to pay for overall stability.

Bowl games everywhere — such as the Sun, Holiday and Alamo — should prepare to redo all of their conference agreements involving an ill-fated Pac-12. 

Think the Parker twins, Jayvon and Armon, aren't getting the last laugh on all those Big Ten schools who didn't pursue the Detroit defensive tackles?

Quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, it appears, will be playing against the Huskies at some point after all ... and the UW is going to have to dig deep to stop someone who was once committed to Montlake before flipping to Ohio State and who has no shortage of football talent.

With all of the added travel, said to be a $10 million add-on to its athletic budget, should the UW consider buying its own 737 jetliner to ferry all of its athletic teams around the country?

DeBoer won't have to learn to like having to watch football on streaming, which his admittedly old-school self was reluctant to do — see above video.

Oh, how the college football landscape just shifted in a matter of a week and a half.

Don James might be rolling over in his grave right about now.

Or, considering he was from Ohio, maybe he's high-fiving Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler at the moment.

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