Ohio State Football: Is college football better with conference expansion?

As an Ohio State football fan, I’ve always tried to think of things that happen in a college football landscape from the lens of how they will affect the program. Is it good for the Buckeyes? Is it bad for the Buckeyes? That’s how I view a large majority of the issues in college football at large.

When it comes to conference expansion, I think it’s more of a mixed bag for the Ohio State football program. It’s good because it will give them more money, which in turn helps them improve facilities, coaching salaries, and other things. But it’s also bad in the same way it’s bad for all of college football.

Conference expansion is taking away what was so special about college football; regionality. Every conference had a defining style of play that was a characteristic of the programs that were located in that conference. Now, everyone is starting to play the same way.

The differences in the conference is part of what made me love college football in the first place. Teams weren’t afraid to do something different and be daring. We could see what styles worked and what didn’t once these conferences played against each other in bowl games.

With USC and UCLA now in the same conference as Rutgers and Maryland, those regional characteristics don’t exist anymore. There’s no specialty in major college football anymore. I think that’s a bad thing for a sport that so many people in different parts of the country love.

It remains to be seen if this latest round of expansion takes a toll on the sport at large in terms of viewership and fan attendance. It will take another five or ten years to determine that. But I can’t help but think some of the luster has been lost with the sport I have loved for most of my life.