Just saw CBS put out their Big Ten schedule for the fall and I had to read it twice. USC and Oregon getting the prime slots? Minnesota getting featured? Meanwhile our trip to Notre Dame is just sitting there like it's some random non-conference game. That used to be a marquee matchup that the whole country circled. Now it's buried because the conference is too busy promoting the new money programs from the west coast.
I remember when we joined the Big Ten and it meant something. You had the Big Two and the Little Eight and you knew exactly who you were fighting every year. We went to the Rose Bowl three times in the 90s and nobody was talking about cross-country travel or TV windows. The game was the game. Now we have a league that stretches from Madison to Los Angeles and we're supposed to act like that makes sense.
The thing that gets me is we traded real rivalries for television money. I used to look forward to November games against Minnesota and Iowa and Michigan State. Those games meant something because they were about farmland and border battles and real history. Now we're supposed to get excited about a Thursday night kickoff against a program that was in the Pac-12 two years ago.
CBS talks about the Big Ten seeking its fourth straight national title and they're probably right about the league being strong. But at what cost? We lost the soul of the conference somewhere along the way. The spring meetings in Palm Beach with the SEC power brokers talking about expanding the playoff just seals it. The sport is being run by accountants and television executives now.
I'll be there in South Bend on that Sunday afternoon because that's what we do. But I miss the days when the schedule came out and every game felt like a rivalry. Now it feels like we're just filling TV slots for the networks. Barry Alvarez would have hated this.