Last August, the Big Ten Conference expanded for the third time in 13 years, adding West Coast schools Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. Maryland and Rutgers joined in 2014, while Nebraska became a Big Ten member in 2011.
With UCLA's elimination in the Men's College World Series, Big Ten athletics has officially concluded for the 2024-25 school year. The Bruins became the first Big Ten member to qualify for the College World Series since Michigan in 2019, but their impact on the conference goes well beyond just baseball. UCLA's softball team also qualified for the Women's College World Series, along with Oregon who won the Big Ten regular season title.
All four new members won at least one Big Ten championship, led by Oregon leading the entire conference with eight titles. UCLA had the second most conference championships with six, just above Michigan and Ohio State with five apiece. USC earned three titles, and Washington was the champion in men's rowing.
Track and field was impacted the most by the addition of these four schools, particularly Oregon and USC. Oregon was the Big Ten champion in both indoor and outdoor for the men's division, but USC was crowned the national champion in both. In the women's division, Oregon won both the Big Ten and national championship during the indoor season, while USC took the Big Ten crown during the outdoor season, winding up as national runners-up.
Oregon's football team led three Big Ten teams into the expanded College Football Playoff with an undefeated regular season and Big Ten title came win over Penn State. But it was the Buckeyes who ended up on top of the college football world, avenging a regular season loss to the Ducks in the quarterfinal game at the Rose Bowl.
None of the four new schools played a major role in the Big Ten men's basketball season, but women's basketball was another story. UCLA and USC both spent almost the entire season in the top-five of the rankings. USC won both games in the regular season over their cross-town rivals, but the Bruins won the rubber match in the Big Ten title game, UCLA eventually advanced to the Final Four, while USC fell in the Elite Eight to eventual champion UConn after All-American JuJu Watkins tore her ACL in the second round of the tournament.
While the Big Ten does not feature an NCAA-level conference for water polo, UCLA defeated USC in the men's national championship, while USC's women lost in the championship after defeating UCLA in the semifinals.
At the end of the school year, the four new Big Ten schools accounted for either regular season and/or tournament conference championships in 15 of the 28 Big Ten sponsored sports.