Big Ten Notes and News

So this is the conference expansion that had us bracing for impact?  Where are the sixteen-team super conferences?  Where is the collapse of the Big 12?  Where is the demise of the BCS and the start of the Final Four Contest of Conference Champs?  Where are all the other dominos that were destined to fall?  And while we’re at it, where are the flying cars? This is the 21^st Century after all.

Instead of the strange and mysterious new age of college athletics, we have only some furniture rearranged and the confusing situation in which the Big 12 has ten teams and the Big Ten has twelve.  Is this new math or the metric system? Oh, and today when Utah joins the Pac-10 they will have twelve teams. This is why everything is relevant in this postmodern era….10 is 12, 12 is 10. Confusing, but life.  

Nebraska announced their move to the Big Ten when it appeared the Big 12 was about to sink.  The logic in Lincoln was that it was in Nebraska’s best interest to hit the eject button and land safely in a major conference; otherwise they might have ended up on the street with the likes of Kansas.  Now that the Big 12 has survived, should the Cornhuskers have regrets?  I don’t think so.  Even without the hullabaloo and hype that has occupied sports channels since the end of basketball season this move makes sense as a bonus for the Big Ten and a big win for Nebraska in the long run.

Nebraska’s tradition and branding were overshadowed by Texas when the Big 8 added pieces of the defunct Southwest Conference.  An unsubstantiated, yet ominous sentence may be found on the Wikipedia entry for the Big 8: “Although the Big 12 was essentially formed by the Big Eight absorbing the four Texas schools, the Big 12 Conference chose to not claim the Big Eight's history as its own.” 

If Nebraska, sports fans, or the media, have any doubt that Texas did not overwhelm the conference, they need look no further than the deal that Texas and its closest companions struck to ensure the survival of the Big 12.  Does anyone really think that Nebraska would get the same deal as Texas?  Of course not and it is doubtful that they would even have gotten the same offer given to Oklahoma, OSU, Texas Tech and Texas A & M. 

None of these teams are crying foul that Texas gets VIP status because they are willing participants. Unfortunately it seems like they have become nothing more than sparring partners for Texas’ private conference.  It reminds of the Washington Generals – that’s the team that always “loses” to the Harlem Globetrotters.  Under the Big 12’s new deal, even when Texas loses, they win on revenue.  I have a certain respect for the Huskers for stepping out of what looks like a dysfunctional family.

Certainly Nebraska had to feel some pain in leaving a 103-year-old relationship with a conference that it helped to establish.  (Yet, they could also argue that that conference ended when Texas joined).  

In the Big Ten, Nebraska’s brand and tradition will fit appropriately with their schools that have similar values.  For example, there are seven teams with more than 800 all-time wins in college football.  Nebraska is fourth on the list.  Joining the Huskers on this list are Big Ten members Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and the their oddball cousin Notre Dame.  The others are Texas and Alabama who outpace their conference colleagues by a fair margin. 

Nebraska will likely keep certain key rivalries like Oklahoma going, but we can expect better in the Big Ten.  Certain classic rivalries will be renewed.  Pay particular attention to the Nebraska-Iowa series.  This rivalry is highly anticipated.  Each state rallies behind their team without much disunity (unlike Oklahoma and Texas whose loyalties are divided within). 

So, back to the original question: Did Nebraska jump too soon?  No, I rather think they didn’t jump soon enough.  This is the best fit to give the Big Ten its twelfth team and the long-awaited championship game. Forget Notre Dame and their increasingly irrelevant independence.  Cultivate the new rivalries and start building the anticipation as the season rolls on.  

A day before Nebraska’s official move to the Big Ten, I made a business call and was connected to a customer service center in Iowa.  Not only was the operator helpful, but she wanted to talk football.  She asked what I thought about the rumor of Nebraska joining the Big Ten.  I turned the question around seeking the Iowans perspective.  She spoke of a certain enthusiasm and began talking smack about Nebraska.  Our conversation confirmed all of my hunches about the rightness of this move.  After all, if a call center operator has this much enthusiasm about the move when it is still a year away and just a rumor, then just imagine what it will be like now that the papers are signed and the series begins in 2011.