Thursday’s news of USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten Conference as early as 2024 stunned the college sports world. The prospect of two elite athletic programs teaming up with the nation’s most powerful Power Five conference might be the most anticipated merger since Joe Walsh joined the Eagles. Did the Eagles really need Walsh to crank out hit after hit? No, but they immediately turned out the granddaddy of all classic rock albums, “Hotel California,” and became better than ever with Walsh. Ditto the Big Ten, which didn’t need USC or UCLA to prove its worth in the world of college sports but be…
