Oregon is doing well in its first season in the Big Ten, but the other teams that left the Pac-12 are struggling to adjust.
UCLA, USC, and Washington are currently at the lower end of the conference standings, with a combined record of 4-10 in Big Ten games.
The Trojans and Bruins were the first to announce their move from the Pac-12 before it broke apart last summer, and each has only one win in the Big Ten this season.
USC (3-4, 1-4) has lost three games in a row, including a close 29-28 loss to Maryland last Saturday. They have been ahead in the fourth quarter of all their games this year.
“We’ve had a lot of different issues,” coach Lincoln Riley mentioned this week. “The truth is we’ve been in many close games, had chances to pull away, but we haven’t done that. We’ve missed chances to finish these games, and we’ve faced some tough breaks. But we haven’t played well enough to get past those challenges.”
After starting the season with a win against LSU in Las Vegas and reaching as high as No. 11 in the rankings, the Trojans have an opportunity to turn things around at home against Rutgers on Friday night.
The Big Ten teams are 5-11 when traveling across multiple time zones. USC, UCLA, and Washington have only one win in conference play while on the road.
Washington (4-3, 2-2) will face No. 13 Indiana on Saturday in its second away game at 9 a.m. back in Washington.
The Huskies won the Pac-12 championship last season and reached the national championship game, but changes in the team mean this year is more about rebuilding. Coach Jedd Fisch, in his first year with Washington, expected there would be ups and downs.
“There are so many new players, different positions, and people in situations they’ve never experienced before, in a conference we’ve never played in. With all this change, it’s hard to expect things to look very different from how they do right now,” Fisch said.
UCLA (2-5, 1-4) ended a five-game losing streak by beating Rutgers 35-32 last weekend, marking the Bruins’ first victory in the Big Ten.
“I’m happy to get a Big Ten win, but we still have more games to play, and I want to make sure we become bowl eligible,” Bruins coach DeShaun Foster said. “So we’ll keep playing and hopefully reach that goal.”
Interestingly, Oregon State and Washington State, the only two teams left in the Pac-12 after realignment, have both beaten Big Ten teams this season. The Beavers won against Purdue, and the Cougars defeated Washington.
The standout among the former Pac-12 teams is Oregon, ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time since 2012, thanks to a victory two weeks ago at home against then-No. 2 Ohio State.
“Joining this conference brings new challenges. While going through summer scouting reports, I realized that the teams we’ll be facing will be really exciting. Here at Oregon, we tackle those challenges head-on,” Dan Lanning said before the season started.
Oregon (7-0, 4-0) had a shaky beginning with unimpressive wins against Idaho and Boise State, but those now seem like exceptions. Last weekend, the Ducks dominated Purdue 35-0. This week, they will host No. 20 Illinois. Oregon is likely to be part of the expanded College Football Playoff unless something goes wrong.
“You don’t stop eating halfway through a meal when there’s still plenty left on your plate. That’s how we feel right now; we’re at the midpoint of the season. We still have things to achieve, so the ranking isn’t our focus,” Lanning said on Monday.
