Is USC sacrificing academics with Big Ten move?

There are many opinions constantly being shared all day, every single day, when it comes to USC's move to the Big Ten. While there are many valid arguments for the move, there is one aspect of it that some fans have been rightfully questioning. That's how the academic side is going to shake up with this move.

USC prides itself into being an elite academic university, and it most certainly is. Therefore, asking student-athletes to travel as much as they are going to have to due to playing in a conference where all the teams are nowhere near Los Angeles could sacrifice the student-athletes' academic experiences. Check out how far the distances that all the Big Ten schools are away from SC:

It can maybe be salvageable to the football players to have to travel up to seven hours six times per year, but what about the other sports? They'll need to travel more often than that, and that may make things tough for them to focus on their studies during the school year.

There are many valid reasons as to why USC should move to the Big Ten, but it may make things difficult academically.

With all the advantages to USC moving to the Big Ten financially when it comes to the athletic department, academics may be a bit tougher for the student-athletes in this situation. Is it possible that USC is able to handle this well? Absolutely. Will it undoubtedly pose a bit of a bump in the road, however? Again, absolutely.

Hopefully there won't be any issues here, and for what it's worth, none of the athletes at USC have reacted negatively to the move. USC at least won't have to travel much at all when they play UCLA, and those matchups won't be happening any less.

Traveling to new parts of the country will be a great experience for the student-athletes, but the only downside to all of this is that academics could potentially be put on the backburner during each athlete's respective seasons.