Ehhh….ND draw I get.
I’m not sure Stanford is markedly different than UC Berkeley on academics, prestige, or *location*. Research in raw dollars arguably more so, but that is due to the associated medical school being UCSF (which has no undergraduate programs).
Being a public school (and a Land-grant university at that) probably serves as a bigger differentiator than anything other than the ND-bait thing…
Regardless, even if you want to quibble over the at best nominal advantages Stanford has in these areas, UC Berkeley absolutely moves the needle compared to the Big 10 at large. If these things matter, that is…
As far as tying themselves together, ehhh…maybe in the sense of OU/UT preserving their rivalry if they can. Hard to believe either would turn down the Big 10 if an offer was extended to only one.
Ok.
Im not saying Stanford is a huge value over Cal But it is more valuable than Cal... However any of these mean this is what I am talking about.
Stanford- Historic ND rivalry
Stanford-#10 in Research funding Rank vs. Cal #30 Per National Science Foundation Ranking
Stanford-#5 vs Cal #22 In USNews best colleges (even though I hate this ranking, every rank list I found had similar results except Forbes had Cal at #1 Stan at #4.)
Stanford and Cal have very similar Football program values from every list, being:
Sanford valued between #34-40 vs Cal valued between #40-44.
In CBS best in college sports list last year
Stanford ranked #41 vs Cal #93
Viewership last year:
Stanford ranked #46 vs Cal #76
How much any of these matter, how much any of these push any over the other, I dont know. Some of these definitely matter to the Big 10 more than the Big 12. Overall Stanford is more valuable to anyone more than Cal, to some more than others.
But this is how I base my opinions of each on.