Conference realignment has thrown the entire country into disarray scheduling-wise, with teams now facing conference foes on the opposite coast on a regular basis. It's made sense, because it's made dollars and sense, though.
Conference realignment may not have seen its most drastic jump yet, if On3's Andy Staples is to be believed. Staples claimed that if the Michigan Wolverines and USC Trojans wanted to leave the Big Ten over the infusion of private equity dollars, the SEC would "happily welcome" them.
"There aren’t many schools that could pull off independence. But Michigan and USC probably are two of them," Staples prefaced before saying, "They are not among the ones you’d want to play chicken with.
"If only there were some school that Fielding Yost hated that needed good annual opponents….It wouldn’t be an issue for Michigan. Nor would it for USC. Because the SEC would also happily welcome them too. Again, not schools you want to play chicken with."
Michigan and USC would leave the B1G on the basis that this ongoing private equity deal isn't being done with transparency. A Big Ten official refuted that claim, saying that any accusation of the deal being last-minute is dishonest.
Will this actually lead to the Wolverines and Trojans ditching the conference, the latter less than two years since joining it?
Probably not. If the Florida State Seminoles and Clemson Tigers were able to settle with the ACC this past year, then any reconciliation is possible. Especially one where the Big Ten would lose two of its top revenue producers. Michigan, in particular, is one of the conference's mega cash cows along with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The SEC isn't about to have a school in the Midwest, and it certainly isn't about to have a school in California. As the conferences continue shifting, Greg Sankey has vowed to keep some of the conference's regional requirements in place.
It's a fun idea, but USC and Michigan in the SEC is more fantasy than rumor.