Let's Make a Deal

So today the Big Ten and Pac-12 came to an agreement to schedule each other in inter-conference play in an effort to raise the profiles of their television networks. The deal is very intriguing and unique as it marks the first major effort from the big conferences to ramp up their schedules through bi-lateral conference agreements. The Big Ten-Pac-12 agreement makes sense beyond the Rose Bowl because both conferences have created their own networks in partnership with Fox. USA Today has the necessary quotes from the Conference Commissioners:

"It's sort of in lieu of what some other people are doing (with expansion)," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. 

"Our idea is you can't stand still. You have to build in an environment where people are competing for attention, where they're competing to have the best competitive assets and to present themselves in the best way. I think both of us believe … this is the most constructive way for us to do that."

These is clearly in response to the SEC adding A&M and Missouri and Big XII, ACC, and Big East all making efforts to maintain their automatic qualification in the BCS. The Pac-12 and Big Ten started early, expanding their conferences last year and creating conference championship games. Pac-12 Commissioner, Larry Scott, added:

"This will add a tough, high-quality opponent," Scott said. "Certainly, it creates a tougher path (to the national championship game). But the benefits, we think, outweigh the fact it's far more challenging."

Now the big question from all of this is what will those match ups be? What match ups make sense? I went through the teams in both conferences and tried to find a natural fit. I'll go through the match ups I came up with (listed by profile).

Michigan-USC:
This feels like an easy choice. Michigan and USC have faced off 8 times in bowl games and are also the most successful football programs in the country, let alone these conferences. This agreement is going to be about creating a marquee match up and I believe as a result, you need Michigan playing USC or Oregon and USC playing Michigan or Ohio State. I believe, culturally, this might be the best match up for the two schools.

Ohio State-Oregon:
If you have Michigan-USC, you have to have Ohio State-Oregon. This will be a good match up because both schools have strong programs, you will have the spread versus the spread, and you'll also have the Nike versus Nike contests. It was tough to choose between this and Ohio State-USC. I just thought, culturally, Michigan-USC is the best match up you can have. The case could be made for Ohio State-USC and Michigan-Oregon since those two games have happened in recent memory.

Wisconsin-California:
It might seem weird to put Cal up here, but I'm anticipating a drop in Stanford's program once Andrew Luck is gone. Cal gets a lot of the top recruits in California and once they get their renovations and new Student-Athlete High Performance Center done, they should be one of the better programs in the Pac-12. Meanwhile, Wisconsin seems like they'll be one of the better programs in the Big Ten, but they don't have the tradition of winning that Michigan and Ohio State do. It seems like a potential good match up.

Nebraska-Washington:
A lot of people probably leapt to a Nebraska-Colorado match up considering both schools were rivals in the Big XII North. However, Colorado's program is a mess and I think the Big Ten will realize that Nebraska can be better used playing someone else. Washington seems to be an emerging program under Steve Sarkisian, so this seems like a better line up competitively.

Michigan State-Arizona State:
Due to the bro-y nature of both schools, I believe that this is a natural match up culturally. Michigan State tends to be the stray dog of the Big Ten in that they don't have a rival that considers them a top rival in conference. Competitively, they can challenge for the Big Ten title or be a middling team. We don't know what ASU will be under Todd Graham, but it should be something similar.

Penn State-UCLA:
It hard to gauge where Penn State will be after these Sandusky charges came out. They're sort of the untouchables right now. I could see them as high as playing Cal or Washington, but I think it's difficult. Their recruitment class is shedding players one by one, so it's not clear where their program will be in 2017. UCLA has had similar struggles and have had trouble finding a coach that will lead them to a Pac-12 title. We'll see if Jim Mora can do the job.

Northwestern-Stanford:
As I said before, I don't think Stanford will remain an elite program in the post-Andrew Luck era. They don't have a great QB coach like Harbaugh anymore, so it will be difficult to develop another great quarterback that can transform the team. I think these two schools work because they're both small private schools in major football conferences. They're going to go after the same players. They're probably attracting similar, high-caliber students. Northwestern has a solid program, though it might not be elite. This match up just works.

The Rest of the match ups:
Iowa-Utah
Illinois-Arizona
Purdue-Colorado
Indiana-Oregon State
Minnesota-Washington State