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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WVUALLEN" data-source="post: 131390094" data-attributes="member: 1112294"><a href="https://dailytrojan.com/2020/03/04/the-point-after-despite-all-the-rumors-usc-should-not-yet-leave-the-pac-12/">The Point After: Despite all the rumors, USC should not (yet) leave the Pac-12 </a><a href="https://dailytrojan.com/2020/03/04/the-point-after-despite-all-the-rumors-usc-should-not-yet-leave-the-pac-12/">https://dailytrojan.com/2020/03/04/the-point-after-despite-all-the-rumors-usc-should-not-yet-leave-the-pac-12/</a>By JIMMY GOODMANMarch 4, 2020 A revolution is coming to college football. It will come slowly, painfully and over the course of many generations of struggle and injustice, but a storm of revolt is set to hit the shores of the college football world.This wave of rebellion will come in a variety of forms: name, image, likeness rights, renewed television deals and potential alterations to the College Football Playoff. Above all, however, it will be the newest round of conference realignment that will set the tone for all the other issues in the sport. Few teams sit in as interesting a position as USC.It is no secret that the Trojans and the Pac-12 have been on distinctly poor terms in recent years. Starting at the calamity that is the Pac-12 Networks and stretching down to the industry’s most notoriously incompetent referees, the conference’s football outlook is most optimistically regarded as bottoming out. For many others, however, the Pac-12’s gridiron brand is only set to deteriorate further despite advances by programs like Oregon and Washington.All of this is to say that the conference’s premier football brand, USC, is going to at least consider all available options with regards to conference alignment. Athletic director Mike Bohn implied as much when he went on a USCFootball.com podcast and said “everything’s on the table” with regards to USC’s future. While Bohn would go on to clarify his comments as they related more specifically to future TV deals in the Pac-12, this purported slip of the tongue gives a solid insight into the growing friction and distance between the conference and its elite member programs. With hundreds of millions of dollars and a century-long legacy of dominance hanging in the balance, anything is possible.On Wednesday, Andy Staples of The Athletic proposed a growingly popular idea that USC (as well as UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Arizona State) should bolt for the Big 12 at the next inevitable stage of conference realignments in coming seasons. Certainly, Staples provides a solid argument as he details the history of conference rivalries and competition for programs, as well as the opportunities that the Big 12 offers in terms of financially competitive rewards for elite programs. In many ways, the Big 12 represents the caliber of a conference that could potentially compete with the Big Ten and SEC, whose grip on the college football (and basketball) worlds are tightening annually. USC is a football school and, without a doubt, where the team goes, the school and athletics often follow.All that said, the greenest pastures for USC’s athletic department as a whole still clearly reside in the Pac-12.For as much as the Pac-12 is being nationally embarrassed in the “money” sports of football and basketball, it is still a conference that prides itself on its Olympic prowess. Not only does the conference dominate in sports such as track and field and gymnastics, but sports such as water polo nearly completely comprise Pac-12 teams. Considering USC’s obvious dedication to excellence in Olympic sports — regardless of the struggles in Galen Center or the Coliseum — continuing to compete at the highest level in these sports is a major consideration for USC regarding any conference movement. While Big 12 schools such as Texas have put together solid programs in Olympic sports, they still lag considerably behind the “Conference of Champions.”In addition to the likely protest of the balance of sports programs on campus, USC would also be adding considerable amounts of travel to the schedules of each of these teams. In joining a conference that stretches as far east as West Virginia, travel expenses would rise astronomically as compared to a conference where most play is concentrated on the Western seaboard.Lastly, the Big 12 is a complete catastrophe academically compared to the Pac-12. Considering the interest of President Carol Folt and others to maintain USC’s sharp upward academic trajectory and remain competitive with fellow elite California universities, a move to the Big 12 would be a legitimate downgrade for the school as an academic brand. Simply put, a conference that hosts one school ranked in the top 50 in the nation compared to one that has four would clearly be seen by a university such as USC as an obvious downgrade.Talk of USC leaving the Pac-12 will not slow down anytime soon. From prognostications like Staples’ that claim the Trojans could join the Big 12 to suggestions that USC could follow Notre Dame into football independence, this time of revolution will certainly aim to keep programs across the country on their toes. Despite the appeal of a drastic change, however, USC is still best served to stay the course amid the storm.Jimmy Goodman is a senior writing about USC sports. His column, “The Point After,” runs every other Thursday.</blockquote>

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