Rutgers AD Urges Caution With Big Ten Expansion, But Keeps The Door Open

Rutgers AD Patt Hobbs thinks the Big Ten should take its time with further expansion.

Rumors are swirling Washington and Oregon could soon follow USC and UCLA to the Big Ten amid issues with the PAC-12.

To be clear, nobody with any power to impact the situation has made that claim, but there has been a lot of smoke. Specifically, it was previously reported the two would come for reduced payouts in the neighborhood of $40 million annually. While Hobbs isn't against further expansion, he did urge people to take things slowly moving forward.

Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs talks possible further Big Ten expansion. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs weighs in on further Big Ten expansion.

"You want to do things very carefully in a very measured way. You want to be mindful of the entire landscape ... I like where we are. I know there's rumors out there of further expansion. I'm not giving away anything when I say this. I like where we are. I think what you want to do when you expand is you want to settle in, make sure it's all working very well before you think about other things. Now, look, but you're always open to it. You hear rumors about what's happening with the ACC, the Big 12, all of these. So you just got to continue to watch," Hobbs explained during an appearance on the "TKR" podcast.

Hobbs also noted the Big Ten presidents and chancellors are very new and young for the most part, which he seems to factor into how things will play out.

Will the B1G add more teams?

It seems like the Big Ten will eventually have to add more teams. College sports certainly appear to be trending towards having super conferences. Hell, we're already kind of there.

Once USC and UCLA join the B1G next summer and Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC, the two powerhouse conferences will be comically ahead of the rest of the pack.

They both already are, but the gap will soon be too big to overcome. That means teams will probably run to those conferences for safety. Sorry if that reality offends you, but we get paid here at OutKick to tell the truth. If you can't see the writing on the wall, then you're living with your head in the sand.

The only question is when more expansion happens. The reality is nobody has an answer for that, but as Hobbs pointed out, you always have to remain open to different possibilities. There's a very high chance over the course of the next few years, the B1G or the SEC add more teams. Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten definitely seems like the most likely next move.