Iowa's Kirk Ferentz on Big Ten Expansion: Throw Tradition, Geography 'Out the Window'

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz believes some of the tradition of college football and regionality of the game is disappearing with conference realignment.

"Pretty much now I think what you can do with college football is take tradition and take geography and kinda of throw it out the window," he said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show (50-second mark). "It's a whole different game than what it was even 10-15 years ago."

Iowa is part of a Big Ten conference that will add USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington after the 2023 season. Elsewhere, Texas and Oklahoma are going to the SEC, and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are going to the Big 12 on the same timelines.

What Ferentz doesn't say but will become a reality is that life will become much more difficult for the Hawkeyes with the addition of the Trojans, Bruins, Ducks and Huskies. Not only will there be four more difficult teams in the league, the conference is getting rid of divisions.

The Big Ten West has been much weaker than the Big Ten East during the current setup. In fact, the East division is 9-0 in the Big Ten Championship Game under the current setup, and Iowa hasn't had to worry about competing with the likes of East members Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State for a division crown.

As a result, the Hawkeyes have been in the Big Ten title game twice since the 2014 campaign when the current divisions were put in place.

Frankly, it is difficult to envision Iowa finishing in the top two of a conference that includes Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, USC, Oregon, Wisconsin, UCLA and Washington, among others.

That may be the biggest downfall of all the movement for the Hawkeyes even if Ferentz is focused on the loss of geography and tradition.