Ohio State reportedly against the Big Ten expanding more

Could Ohio State's being against expansion buy the Pac-12 more time and allow for them to expand?

In what has felt like a three month long blindfolded rollercoaster ride, the college football expansion express has taken another huge unexpected turn.

The Big Ten currently has the hot hand in the arms race between them and the SEC when it comes to this realm of college football. After putting the college football world on notice by adding USC and UCLA, and they even went as far to express that their additions wouldn't stop there. This of course led many to believe that they had their sights set on Notre Dame and more Pac-12 schools such as Stanford, Oregon, Washington, and Cal. However, just when we thought they held all the cards, the biggest brand in the conference, Ohio State, may be preventing the next wave of expansion. 

Pac-12 insider, Jon Wilner, took to Twitter to express that Ohio State is currently believed to be on the opposite side of the fence when it comes to adding more teams to the conference who just bagged a new media rights deal. 

Line movement: #Pac12 survival now a 5-point favorite over extinction, up from 4.5

The reason: Chances of more B1G expansion this cycle have diminished. We do not believe Ohio State supports additional moves, and that's a BIG vote against

— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) August 30, 2022

If Ohio State truly is holding off the expansion, which they do carry the weight in the conference to do so considering they are the premier brand of the conference, they could ultimately cause a stalemate. They could very well pull a page from the book of new Big Ten member, USC, and convince the other schools to vote against further expansion. If this is true, it will allow the Pac-12 more time to expand, which is a move that they are also expected to make according to recent reports.  

We likely will not see any major moves until after Labor Day as reported by Pac-12 insider John Canzano, but then again all we have learned is to not hold onto expectations.