OT: Nebraska Reportedly Joining BT By as Early as Friday

[LUKE23]

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/nebr ... -12-060910

I've stayed out of most of these discussions, as there is rumor after rumor. This one seems more legit though since they are putting a date on it and apparently the the approval is already done just not announced.

Another source:

http://www.foxsportsohio.com/06/09/10/R ... eedID=3724

We'll see if it comes to fruition. If you want to delete this or merge it, feel free.

[El Duderino]

So will the Big Ten rename itself the Big Twelve?

[chuckleslove]

This was reported about 45 minutes ago:

davidubben

Nebraska regents' conference call over 2 hours now. Began at 1:15. Still in progress, according to chairman's office.

[MadCityBucky]

"Nebraska board of regents agrees in informal meeting to move to Big Ten, oragebloods.com reports.

AD Tom Osborne has informed staff of move, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports. Fox Sports Ohio reports the Big Ten has extended a formal invite to Nebraska."

[MikeIsGood]

Not at my computer so I'll be brief, but I heard it's official and they accepted an offer.

[MikeIsGood]

Sorry I guess that's UNofficial, but offer accepted? I'm trying to follow on my phone at an airport which isn't the best.

So basically what MCB said.

[humanrefutation]

The word is that Nebraska won't leave the Big 12 without a Big Ten invite, and while all signs point to Nebraska leaving the Big 12, there hasn't been anything explicit saying the Big Ten will take them.

My guess is Nebraska's decision to move on will do one of two things:

1. Cause chaos, with several teams coming to the Big Ten and the Pac-10 and begging to be invited in as well, including (for the Big Ten) Missouri, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and later...Notre Dame.

2. Be the one and only move that's made, with the Big 12 stepping up and offering a better package to keep their teams in the conference, and the Big East left by the wayside.

Either way, I don't think the Pac-10 is going to be poaching many teams...it just seemed like they wanted to be considered one of the growing conferences so they put out expansion talk to challenge the Big Ten's cachet.

[Mags FTW]

I hope they either stand pat or add 2 more from Texas/ND/an East Coast school i.e. Rutgers.

[YC42Balla]

I live in Northern California and I'm a huge Corn Huskers fan...
But I don't get to see very many Games that often... So my Question is.. If Nebraska decides to join the Pac-10 .. well that make it easier for me to watch more of their games?
If so I would love them to Join the Pac-10.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

I live in Northern California and I'm a huge Corn Huskers fan...
But I don't get to see very many Games that often... So my Question is.. If Nebraska decides to join the Pac-10 .. well that make it easier for me to watch more of their games?
If so I would love them to Join the Pac-10.

You will definitely be able to watch more games than you can now, but you may not get all of the games. I am a Minnesota Alum that is going to grad school in Washington State, so I bought the Big Ten Network with my cable service ($5 a month for the general sports package) so I could watch Minnesota football/basketball. I was able to watch every football game except one or two and every basketball game. The problem with the Big Ten Network outside of the Big Ten region is that there aren't multiple Big Ten Network channels so you have to watch whichever Big Ten game is the "featured" game at that kick off time. Within the Big Ten region there are multiple Big Ten Network channels during kick off so you can whichever Big Ten games you want.

Hopefully that made sense. Basically you should be able to watch most, if not all of the games. Hopefully the Big Ten Network will start offering multiple channels during kick off for cable networks outside of the Big Ten region. The Big Ten network seems to get better every year, so I think you'll be happy with it if Nebraska joins the conference.

[ReasonablySober]

Sounds like Oklahoma is heading to the Pac-10. If that's true then I have to believe Texas joins 'em. And if Texas is going then they must be taking at least A&M and likely Tech along for the ride.

Bye bye Big 12.

[chuckleslove]

Colorado is supposed to announced joining the Pac 10 on Friday too.

[MikeIsGood]

P10 end up announcing Colorado today.

I would think Nebraska to the B10 is as much of a lock as it can get for something that hasn't been announced yet. If Nebraska were staying, Colorado wouldn't be leaving, at least I can't imagine they would. The writing was on the wall.

The B12 could still survive as is as long as Texas and Oklahoma stay. They'd need to re-work some things but they could probably make it work. However, it's obviously more likely that it dissolves as schools individually (or collectively, in Texas) look to become part of a super conference.

Individually, I still don't think Texas to the P10 makes any sense whatsoever. But I guess they're thinking collectively down there. Maybe the P10 is in their future.

It also sounds like, though, TAMU could have the possibility of joining the SEC, who has otherwise remained quiet through all of the conference expansion talk. IF (big if) TAMU were to basically say "screw this Texas alliance" and go to the SEC, that would eliminate one school from that Texas group. Baylor is maybe already being pushed to the side as they got left out of the P10 talk in favor, apparently, of Colorado who became the first to jump ship officially. That leaves TTU.

I don't know. Whatever. This is all why this summer was always going to be so interesting. All of this stuff plus NBA free agency happening in one summer. Chaos.

[ReasonablySober]

TAMU and Virginia Tech are flirting with the SEC right now I hear.

[MadCityBucky]

TAMU at the SEC, they would get killed though it might help get them get more recruits in Texas.

I've heard almost nothing about Big 10 and Texas, is the Pac 10 really the only conference they're looking at? Because it would be f*** awesome to have them and Notre Dame.

[MikeIsGood]

:lol: TAMU at the SEC, they would get killed though it might help get them get more recruits in Texas.

While I agree they'd killed, as you said they would have one thing going for them. I don't think it'd be nearly enough to counteract the rest of the SEC, but they'd be able to recruit the state of Texas as a home-state university to what has recently been the most dominant football conference. They'd probably be able to pull a couple of kids with that angle.

I've heard almost nothing about Big 10 and Texas, is the Pac 10 really the only conference they're looking at? Because it would be f*** awesome to have them and Notre Dame.

It's not necessarily their interest, but rather who is interested in them and taking their cronies with, etc. There hasn't been a lot of talk of Texas to the B10 - I've heard flat-out that the B10 is not in discussions with them - but think about all of the politics Texas is bringing along with it. As I've said, I think Texas to the P10 makes no sense whatsoever compared to joining the B10, but if the B10 isn't calling they might not have much choice. They'd never join the SEC. Their ego couldn't handle joining that conference, IMO, not to mention the academic side would be crying out bloody murder. Texas has been wanting to go to a more prestigious academic conference, and the SEC is a step backward. It appears the P10 is willing to take on the other schools Texas is attached to the hip with, but the B10? We couldn't get Baylor or TTU into the B10 on academic standards. They'd never pass the vote. Whether the football fans like it or not, the B10 is built on academics, and the money on that side of things with academics and especially research make the money earned by football look like you built a house on Baltic Avenue compared to building hotels on Boardwalk.

Here's an interesting blurb from a piece out of Omaha talking about the "off the field" aspect of the (potential) Nebraska move:

The Big Ten's academic and research prowess has some UNL professors and researchers quietly hoping the university does jump conferences. And if Penn State University — the last university to join the Big Ten — is any indication, the rumored conference move could be just as lucrative for the academic campus as it could be for Tom Osborne's athletic department.
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“Simply put, it's very fancy company,” says John Nichols, a Penn State associate dean and former faculty senate president, recalling his university's move to the Big Ten two decades ago. “The academic payoff can be huge.”

The Big Ten's list of 11 members reads like a who's who of top U.S. universities.

Northwestern is an Ivy League-caliber private school just a notch below Harvard and Yale in national rankings.

The University of Michigan is arguably the nation's premier public research university, and its professors hauled in nearly $600 million in federal research funding — five times as much as UNL — in the latest government calculations.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison can claim the discovery of Vitamin A and Vitamin B, the world's first bone marrow transplant and the world's first synthetic gene. It's also the flagship school of a public university system that's the envy of nearly every other state in the country.

And the rest of the Big Ten universities aren't exactly slouches. In fact, every one of the conference's schools is rated among the nation's top 30 public universities in the latest U.S. News college rankings.

Compare that to the Big 12, a conference that boasts only two schools — Texas and Texas A&M — among the top 30 public universities.

UNL is ranked lower academically and brings in fewer federal research dollars than any school currently in the Big Ten.

“A number of (Big Ten universities) have physical facilities and infrastructure that's pretty substantial compared to Nebraska,” said John Janovy, a longtime UNL parasitology researcher and author. “Some also have an intellectual climate that's a little less fettered than Nebraska.”

Simply associating with the Big Ten could pull up UNL's academic reputation, making it easier to attract top students and win federal research grants, several professors said.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100609/NEWS01/706099919

Though whoever is brought into the conference is likely to see their academic rankings/research money/etc increase (potentially very significantly), the B10 won't go after anyone. If Texas wants to come to the B10 I think they have to separate themselves from their ugly cousins (as someone else put it). I have no inside information on that matter - it's just my take on it. But I think it has plenty of basis. And I'm not sure Texas will be able to get away with that when they have legislators getting involved.

As always, my two cents.

This is fun.

EDIT: I said TAMU and meant Baylor at one point. Fixed now...

[MadCityBucky]

Here's Icness with some great news

The latest:
--Colorado is now in the Pac-10, done deal
--Nebraska is in the Big Ten, done deal
--Texas and Texas A&M will be announced in the Big Ten as early as Friday, 99% done deal
--Oklahoma is moving to the SEC, 99% done deal
--OK State moving to Pac-10, 80% done deal
--Kansas is angling to go to the SEC, primarily for hoops. I put that one at about 50%. If they don't go to the SEC then Louisville is very likely.

Still nothing from Notre Dame, which appears to be sticking to their "we're happy to be independent" guns.

The biggest of course being Texas

[Dry_Fish]

Here's Icness with some great news

The latest:
--Colorado is now in the Pac-10, done deal
--Nebraska is in the Big Ten, done deal
--Texas and Texas A&M will be announced in the Big Ten as early as Friday, 99% done deal
--Oklahoma is moving to the SEC, 99% done deal
--OK State moving to Pac-10, 80% done deal
--Kansas is angling to go to the SEC, primarily for hoops. I put that one at about 50%. If they don't go to the SEC then Louisville is very likely.

Still nothing from Notre Dame, which appears to be sticking to their "we're happy to be independent" guns.

The biggest of course being Texas

I am sorry but that makes no sense - there is no way OK/Texas are going separate.

I also think Texas is going to the Pac-10, they have been courted for a long time

[MadCityBucky]

Here's an article on the Texas/Big 10.

http://www.kctv5.com/sports/23860558/detail.html

Could all be a bunch of BS though

[chuckleslove]

I think even if Texas and OK ended up in different conferences they could still do their Red River rivalry game as part of their out of conference schedule.

I saw the report about Texas and A&M joining the Big Ten that would be pretty big for the B10, obviously that would put them at 14, I wonder if then they wait on ND to feel the pressure and want to join and pick up ND and maybe Rutgers to get the NY/NJ media markets and make it a 16 team league.

One thing is for sure, tomorrow is going to be a crazy day.