Nebraska to Big Ten?

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I was doing some thinking and while adding Nebraska by its self doesn't make sense, adding Missouri too, makes a lot of sense. Nebraska is a natural rival to Missouri and Iowa. Missouri already has a rivalry with Illinois. If an eastern team is added, there's a natural geographic break, that puts ILL, NU, WI, MO, NE, IA and MN in the west. A seven team division would have six divisional games and two or three inter division games. Adding MO would add the St Louis and Kansas City TV markets seems like a lot of pluses.
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
I can't lie. I think Nebraska is a great fit for the Big Ten. I could be wrong, but I could see a Neb-Iowa turning into an instant rivalry that would make for great entertainment.
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Absolutely! A great fit, most natural besides Notre Dame. Plenty of history(not recent), I think most college football fans can recognize the great tradition Nebraska has had over the years.
 


i just am having a hard time not seeing notre dame joining. It makes way more sense for them to join now when they actually are in a position of power and can have some sway on who gets invited rather then have nothing later on. If the big twelve dies i have a hard time seeing the sec not expanding, that would most likely mean raiding the acc. ACC in turn raids big east, killing big east in football and unless ND wants to go to the ACC they are screwed.
 

Notre Dame's NBC contract ends in 2015
Nebraska plays 2012 as a member of the Big Ten
Big Ten Championship game played at Lucas Oil Field in December of 2012
Notre Dame agrees play 2016 as a member of the Big Ten in December of 2012.
The world ends on December 21st 2012.
2016 1 or 3 of these teams are added: Colorado, Missouri, Rutgers, Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt
 


I can see the BigTen and Notre Dame working out an agreement saying that if they join now, ND can fulfill their agreement with NBC, but cannot renew it once it is up. Nebraska, ND, and one other school start big ten play in 2012.

If there are four years of Notre Dame football on NBC in the Big Ten conference, that would give more national exposure, one more possible media outlet, and less 11am starts for the rest of us... for four years at least.

Then in 2016 we add two more (if necessary) and bring Notre Dame in the Big Ten Network fold with the rest of us. If notre dame is going to give up their football-independence power-trip, they might need to be let down slowly and not all at once.
 

RodentRampage said:
I think 1 more team is just right. Right now, we do rotate teams out of the schedule, but they come back in 2 years. The more teams we add, the bigger the gaps will be. If we go all out and make a 16-team super-conference, we're going to be very distanced from the other division, it might as well be a second conference.
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+1. Still not sure how a 16 team super conference could work for football. You would end up playing just over half of the conference teams each year. The model could work for basketball but I just don't see how it fits for football. The only way to do it that makes any sense would be to treat the two divisions as more or less two seperate but affiliated conferences. Which still doesn't make that much sense.
 

This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea. If the Big Ten takes Nebraska then the Big 12 is over and the Pac-Ten gets Texas. Ugh.

This hurts the Big Ten immensely. Texas going to the Big Ten will have catastrophic consequences.

ESPN and the rest of the parrots that pass for college football analysts start telling the whole world that the SEC and newly expanded Pac-Ten are the ONLY conferences that matter in College football. Currently, the Big Ten is never worse than the 2nd best conference for depth of competitiveness and top tier teams (and is often the best). The Big Ten is the only conference in America where all 11 teams can beat just about anyone on any given day.

Eventually, the ESPN hype machine will succeed in convincing recruits that there are only 2 conferences that matter and if you want to play Big Time college football you had better join one of them. This literally makes me sick to my stomach.


I´m worried about the Big Ten. As much as I loathe the Golden Domers, it seems like the only way to stop the bleeding is for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten. If that happens the Big Ten won´t feel the need to expand past 12 and the Big 12 will likely stay intact.

Texas is the BIG prize. The Big Ten would be crazy to destroy the Big 12 and hand it to the Pac Ten on a silver platter.
 

AhliBobwa said:
This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea. If the Big Ten takes Nebraska then the Big 12 is over and the Pac-Ten gets Texas. Ugh.

This hurts the Big Ten immensely. Texas going to the Big Ten will have catastrophic consequences.

ESPN and the rest of the parrots that pass for college football analysts start telling the whole world that the SEC and newly expanded Pac-Ten are the ONLY conferences that matter in College football. Currently, the Big Ten is never worse than the 2nd best conference for depth of competitiveness and top tier teams (and is often the best). The Big Ten is the only conference in America where all 11 teams can beat just about anyone on any given day.

Eventually, the ESPN hype machine will succeed in convincing recruits that there are only 2 conferences that matter and if you want to play Big Time college football you had better join one of them. This literally makes me sick to my stomach.


I´m worried about the Big Ten. As much as I loathe the Golden Domers, it seems like the only way to stop the bleeding is for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten. If that happens the Big Ten won´t feel the need to expand past 12 and the Big 12 will likely stay intact.

Texas is the BIG prize. The Big Ten would be crazy to destroy the Big 12 and hand it to the Pac Ten on a silver platter.
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Agreed tenfold. Going to 12 with Nebraska succeeds only in expanding the footprint into a state where no one lives and turning the Big 10 into, at best, the 3rd best conference (by a wide margin) instead of arguably the second-best (though still by a wide margin). Nebraska does virtually nothing for the long-term viability of the conference. Even Rutgers would bring the possibility of convincing Notre Dame to sign up. And without them (or Texas) the external reaction to our expansion hurts us about as much as adding a team would possibly help.
 



RedPoo said:
Agreed tenfold. Going to 12 with Nebraska succeeds only in expanding the footprint into a state where no one lives and turning the Big 10 into, at best, the 3rd best conference (by a wide margin) instead of arguably the second-best (though still by a wide margin). Nebraska does virtually nothing for the long-term viability of the conference. Even Rutgers would bring the possibility of convincing Notre Dame to sign up. And without them (or Texas) the external reaction to our expansion hurts us about as much as adding a team would possibly help.
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..now that I'm thinking about it, is it possible that the Pac 10 + Big 12 talks are a ruse by those two conferences to convince Delaney that expanding (without Notre Dame, at least) will just hurt us in the long run? I've got to assume neither of those two conferences want to see the Big Ten add a team like Nebraska....but could they stand pat if we did?
 

AhliBobwa said:
This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea. If the Big Ten takes Nebraska then the Big 12 is over and the Pac-Ten gets Texas. Ugh.

This hurts the Big Ten immensely. Texas going to the Big Ten will have catastrophic consequences.

ESPN and the rest of the parrots that pass for college football analysts start telling the whole world that the SEC and newly expanded Pac-Ten are the ONLY conferences that matter in College football. Currently, the Big Ten is never worse than the 2nd best conference for depth of competitiveness and top tier teams (and is often the best). The Big Ten is the only conference in America where all 11 teams can beat just about anyone on any given day.

Eventually, the ESPN hype machine will succeed in convincing recruits that there are only 2 conferences that matter and if you want to play Big Time college football you had better join one of them. This literally makes me sick to my stomach.


I´m worried about the Big Ten. As much as I loathe the Golden Domers, it seems like the only way to stop the bleeding is for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten. If that happens the Big Ten won´t feel the need to expand past 12 and the Big 12 will likely stay intact.

Texas is the BIG prize. The Big Ten would be crazy to destroy the Big 12 and hand it to the Pac Ten on a silver platter.
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Freak out much? ESPN will be the downfall of us all? Sheesh. You've taken a reasonable point (that Texas in a weak Big XII is better for everyone than Texas in a stronger Pac-10) and run off down the road to Crazy Town (sick to your stomach? Really?).
 

GoAUpher said:
Freak out much? ESPN will be the downfall of us all? Sheesh. You've taken a reasonable point (that Texas in a weak Big XII is better for everyone than Texas in a stronger Pac-10) and run off down the road to Crazy Town (sick to your stomach? Really?).
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Really. If Oregon could get it's act together, we'd already be considered the 3rd best conference, and largely irrelevant (at least in the short term). Adding Texas, Oklahoma et all to the Pac 10 would make us 3rd at best into the foreseeable future, and an afterthought at the national level most seasons.
Ohio State has been trying to single-handedly keep us relevant these last few years, but it's only getting harder. Unless you see something on the horizon that's going to all the sudden get kids from cali, texas and florida to want to play in the midwest, a weak Pac 10 is our best bet for future strength. Having Texas, USC et all out west, and Florida, Alabama and the crew in the south will basically ensure those two conferences square off against each other most seasons, and it will snowball as the trend becomes more obvious to recruits.

We need Notre Dame.
 

Well, it appears that the first shot has been fired by the Big Ten. Now lets see how the big 12 ducks fall. Nebraska will publicly accept first this week to join the Big Ten and Missouri will not be far behind. Now we know why Texas elicited the demand that Nebraska and Missouri pledge loyalty to the Big 12; Texas new inside information because the Big Ten was courting them as well. Texas can't stand being trumped by anyone especially Nebraska so they are pushing the quit demise of the Big 12 so they can deal with the Pac 10. Notice that all of the reports of what is going to happen eminates from Orangeblood.com and Texas actually call all their coaches together and claimed that they had tried to save the Big 12 but had failed, blaming Nebraska of course. Amazing that they believe that folks will not see how instrumental they were in talks of leaving themselves. All I can say is, ND, you snooze, you loose. Make the move to the Big Ten NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 



RedPoo said:
Agreed tenfold. Going to 12 with Nebraska succeeds only in expanding the footprint into a state where no one lives and turning the Big 10 into, at best, the 3rd best conference (by a wide margin) instead of arguably the second-best (though still by a wide margin). Nebraska does virtually nothing for the long-term viability of the conference. Even Rutgers would bring the possibility of convincing Notre Dame to sign up. And without them (or Texas) the external reaction to our expansion hurts us about as much as adding a team would possibly help.
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I disagree on a couple of points.

1. Nebraska is a national brand. There are few schools with more fans across the country than Nebraska. The South Benders are obviously the #1 national brand but Nebraska isn't far behind.

2. Nebraska loves the Cornhuskers. There may only be a little more than 2 million in that state but almost every one of them has their eyeballs on the TV during Nebraska games. I'd go as far as to say no school in the country has that big of a monolopy. Saturday afternoons in the fall in Omaha and Lincoln completely revolve around the Huskers.

3. The Huskers have a large alumni base in St Louis and especially KC. Signing up the Huskers gets the BT in those markets in a meaningful way.

4. Any school that's added gets the BT to the magical number of 12, which means millions more for a Conference Champ game.

5. Even if the 5 Texas schools join the PAC-10, the BT will still have a larger percentage of the nation's population in its markets if Mizzou (completely lock down the state of Missouri) an Rutgers (NJ and into NYC) join as well.

math: Cali + Texas + Colorado + Arizona + Oregon + Washington < Nebraska + Minnesota + Wisconsin + Iowa + Illinois + Michigan + Indiana + Ohio + Penn + NJ + Missouri

The point here being is the media won't alienate the conference with the largest footprint in the country. A BT with Nebraska, ND, Rutgers, and Mizzou would absolutely get all of the pub you could ever imagine and screen time is always a good thing.
 

6 months ago if Delany had landed Nebraska it would have been looked at as a coup. Now, with all the hype, gamesmanship, and stakesraising, if he comes away with just NU he looks like a chump. Particularly if TX goes to the Pac10. OTOH, if there's a plan in place to land NU & nd, then then it proves that Delany showed up at a knifefight packing a shotgun. And a rocket launcher. As a opposed to Beebe, the B12 commish, who arrived with a club.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
I disagree on a couple of points.

1. Nebraska is a national brand. There are few schools with more fans across the country than Nebraska. The South Benders are obviously the #1 national brand but Nebraska isn't far behind.

2. Nebraska loves the Cornhuskers. There may only be a little more than 2 million in that state but almost every one of them has their eyeballs on the TV during Nebraska games. I'd go as far as to say no school in the country has that big of a monolopy. Saturday afternoons in the fall in Omaha and Lincoln completely revolve around the Huskers.

3. The Huskers have a large alumni base in St Louis and especially KC. Signing up the Huskers gets the BT in those markets in a meaningful way.

4. Any school that's added gets the BT to the magical number of 12, which means millions more for a Conference Champ game.

5. Even if the 5 Texas schools join the PAC-10, the BT will still have a larger percentage of the nation's population in its markets if Mizzou (completely lock down the state of Missouri) an Rutgers (NJ and into NYC) join as well.

math: Cali + Texas + Colorado + Arizona + Oregon + Washington < Nebraska + Minnesota + Wisconsin + Iowa + Illinois + Michigan + Indiana + Ohio + Penn + NJ + Missouri

The point here being is the media won't alienate the conference with the largest footprint in the country. A BT with Nebraska, ND, Rutgers, and Mizzou would absolutely get all of the pub you could ever imagine and screen time is always a good thing.
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You make some good points with the media and the national footprint.
Unfortunately, to my untrained eye at least, it looks like we'd be picking up all the places without talent. Regardless of Nebraska's alumni base, they don't seem to be able to attract the top-tier recruits. And regardless of how many people live in Big 10 states, the media won't pay attention if none of those people are good football players.
 

Yeah, I really don't know what the freakout is all about.

If the Pac-10 goes big and adds half the big12, you can bet the Big10 has a plan (adding Missouri, Syracuse, Rutgers/Pitt, and therefore Notre Dame) to counter.

On the other hand, if the Pac10 and half the big12 were bluffing in order to keep some semblance of competitiveness with a potentially enormous Big10, then the pac10 will be conservative and add Colorado and BYU. And the weakened Big12 will be forced to replace Nebraska with someone.

Adding Nebraska shows me what I expected all along... that we never were too serious when it came to acquiring Texas. It was always about Notre Dame. Nebraska is a great get, but it was only the first chess move towards the endgame... Notre Dame.
 

Seems to me this would be a good time to grab Kansas too. Why does nobody seem to want them? The BT needs 4 more teams to get to 16, how about Missouri, Kansas, Notre Dame & Rutgers? Works for me.
 

mkAz said:
Seems to me this would be a good time to grab Kansas too. Why does nobody seem to want them? The BT needs 4 more teams to get to 16, how about Missouri, Kansas, Notre Dame & Rutgers? Works for me.
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Kansas is a no go simply because they are inextricably bound to Kansas St. It's too bad. I would have liked kansas to be in the conversation as well.
 

If Nebraska would join the Big 10, would they then have joined the Big 10 in every sport or just football?
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
I can't lie. I think Nebraska is a great fit for the Big Ten. I could be wrong, but I could see a Neb-Iowa turning into an instant rivalry that would make for great entertainment.
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I agree.

Some other things I like.

- four more conf. Games per season
- balanced schedule with at least five games a week during conf play
- nobody idle during rivalry week - today one of UW, IL, or NW is always idle
- everybody gets a bye - today one of UW, IL, or NW don't get a bye
- if alignment is WEST: Gophers, UW, IA, NU, IL, NW, then they will likely match IL with NW, NU with IA, and the Gophers with UW. I think it makes the most sense for the rivalry weekend opponent for the Gophers to be the most played rivalry in all of major college football.
 

Gopher Ben has it; I'm in Nebraska and multiple sources here say Dr. Tom made the decision and it's a go. Okay by me - we still lead them 29-20 all time.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Gopher Ben has it; I'm in Nebraska and multiple sources here say Dr. Tom made the decision and it's a go. Okay by me - we still lead them 29-20 all time.
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And still trail in National Championships.

Welcome to the Big 10* (et. al)

*contingent on a crapload of things.
 

I hate the idea of expansion, and really hate the idea of a "super conference". I don't get the appeal of Nebraska at all. It's a tiny state that offers zero in terms of TV and offers zero in terms of recruiting benefits for other schools in the conference. I'd rather have Pitt if we were to add a team.
 

To me, Nebraska signals a bigger fish will come later, and the deal is all but done. I hope the bigger fish is Texas, and the Big Ten is forcing the collapse of the Big 12, which gives Texas (and perhaps A&M) political cover for joining the conference.
 

Boondoggle said:
If Nebraska would join the Big 10, would they then have joined the Big 10 in every sport or just football?
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All sports. There is no way that the Big Ten would stand for a team picking and choosing which sports they will be a member of the conference for.
 


The bigten has made its opening move.

I don't think the bigten will do anything more until someone else (pac10,big12) does something......unless.... Notre Dame decides to sign up. In my opinion, Notre Dame really screwed things up by not being number 12. Now everything might change and force them to become number 14 or even number 16.

For now, you can forget about invitations being handed out to Mizzou, or any eastern teams... but that may happen down the road.

For now all we have to do is watch Nebraska make it official, and wait for others to make their moves.
 

With the first domino tipped, the rest will fall. The Big 12 now needs to add at least one more team to keep their championship game. They could add a team or teams, or some might bolt. I think we'll see teams move to the Pac-10, and the remnant raid the MWC and the WAC. The Big 12 remnants are still good enough to be the core of a BCS conference, especially with adding teams like Utah or Boise State.

There are an awful lot of dominoes that will be falling.
 

EG#9 said:
I hate the idea of expansion, and really hate the idea of a "super conference". I don't get the appeal of Nebraska at all. It's a tiny state that offers zero in terms of TV and offers zero in terms of recruiting benefits for other schools in the conference. I'd rather have Pitt if we were to add a team.
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Not a fan of the super conference either...just because it will inevitably lead to smaller conferences when schools decide they don't want to split revenue 16 ways. But I like the Nebraska move.

They're still a national brand in football and creates very appealing matchups with other Big Ten schools. One of the most rabid alumni bases in the country. For example, a Twin Cities radio station carried their games for the longest time because alumni in the area helped pay for it...I think it ended just a couple of years ago (probably because of the ability to now find all the games on TV).

No doubt on the recruiting....unless they get back to an elite level and recruits want to be on a team that plays Michigan, Nebraska, OSU, etc.
 

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