Former Pac-12 Rivals In For A Potential Rude Awakening In The Big Ten

The Big Ten is going to look a whole lot different in 2024. Four new schools—the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, and Oregon Ducks—have joined the conference.

But of those teams, which schools are most likely to succeed and which are going to face a difficult transition? It's usually best to determine that by looking at the head coaches. Oregon and Washington have two proven coaches, whereas UCLA and USC do not.

Some may say Lincoln Riley is, but I think we are starting to see that his success at Oklahoma might have been more because of the culture Bob Stoops built there, and he decided to jump ship before it got bad due to his own roster mismanagement. But let's rank the teams from least likely to succeed to most likely.

4. USC Trojans

It was hard splitting hairs between USC and UCLA. Ultimately, both schools are tied for the least likely to succeed. At least in UCLA's sense, it's because of the unknown at head coach.

For USC, it's because I don't believe in what their head coach is doing. Riley has had historic offenses, but his defenses have been historically bad. We also saw just last season that a superstar at quarterback can no longer save him. He's now heading into a much more physical conference, which is what has always given his team fits.

I love the defensive coordinator hire, so maybe he's finally taking that side of the ball more seriously. But that is to be determined on the field.

3. UCLA Bruins

As I mentioned, UCLA's big question mark is new head coach DeShaun Foster. He is a first-time head coach but previously coached the Bruins' running backs. Under Foster, UCLA led the Pac-12 in rushing two seasons in a row and beat USC.

The Bruins' questions are whether he's ready to be a head coach and whether he can recruit at a high level. We don't know those things now, but we should know them soon.

2. Washington Huskies

Maybe it's because of what the Huskies did last season, but I really like where things are at and where they are headed for Washington. I know Washington lost head coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama, but I also think former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch is a star. If you don't know his name now, you should.

He completely turned around Arizona and made them a legitimate Top 25 contender. It may take him a year or two to get his feet under him at his new job, but I think Washington is in a good spot in its new conference.

1. Oregon Ducks

There is not much to say here. The Oregon Ducks have their guy at head coach, Dan Lanning, and they are building something special. I expect the Ducks to hit the ground running in their first season in the Big Ten and never look back as long as he's there.

He recruits at a high level, appears to develop at a high level, is a defensive-minded coach who will have that side of the football playing well and he showed last year his offenses can still be electric. Oregon is by far in the best spot to succeed in the Big Ten of the newcomers.

Related: Dan Lanning Sends Bold Message to Big Ten Teams as Oregon Prepares Conference Move