Jeff from Brentwood asks, "Which traditional Big Ten school and its fanbase is most similar to USC?"
By various accounts, the University of Michigan and its fanbase out of the traditional Big Ten school is most similar to USC and its fanbase. A prime example is that both fanbases put their football program above their other sports in terms of financial support and both fanbases are extremely intentive on their football programs and put a huge emphasis on getting commitments from top-tier ranked high school recruiting. Both fanbases are also very proud of the history and past successes of their football program as well.
Alex from L.A. asks, "In your opinion will UCLA shrive more in other sports not named football and basketball in the Big Ten more than they did in the Pac-12?"
It multiple sports, many traditional Big Ten teams don't have a team for sports like water polo and beach volleyball (only at the club level) and in turn UCLA does not have a hockey team that is not a club team either. However, the Bruins should do better overall for their Olympic sports in the Big Ten where they will have have to face teams like Stanford who thrive in Olympic sports.
Also expect teams like UCLA's baseball team to do better in the Big Ten as well. The Pac-12 was considered not a lower or mid tier baseball conference and had teams like Oregon State and Arizona. The Big Ten baseball has improved overall and they have some good quality programs but expect the Bruins to win more games in conference play in the Big Ten this upcoming season.
With our first UCLA mailbag in the books, we're already looking forward to the next round of questions.
We hope this mailbag provided some insight as UCLA officially becomes a member of the Big Ten. Keep sending your questions our way via dm's to our Twitter page and or messaging us directly via Facebook messenger, and we'll do our best to answer them in future editions.
Stay tuned for updates on your favorite Bruin team and check out our Twitter/X and Facebook pages for future mailbag articles.