- Do you feel more at home in the Big Ten Conference?
Very much so. The atmosphere is much closer to the old Big 8 days when things were more congenial between the teams. The Big 8 felt like a brotherhood. The Big XII was and always will be a business-first venture. It was stiff and stale and boring and seemed forced.
- Has your pining for the old Big XII Conference been remedied at all, or do you still miss those OU/KSU/MIZZ/CU match-ups.
I miss playing Oklahoma, but that's a result of the Big XII merger, not leaving for the Big Ten. Nobody misses playing Colorado. I miss the old days of having an "away home game" in Manhattan when we'd go down to play KSU for a guaranteed win.
- If the Big XII and the Big Ten made a clean deal for you to return to the Big XII tomorrow, would you be happy about it?
No.
- What is one perception about the conference that has changed since you've been a member?
I felt like it was slower football, and that Nebraska's speed would be an advantage. Turns out that was a misconception fueled by the press (ESPN in particular) and the speed is about equal for most/all teams.
- My least favorite school in the Big Ten is _______________, because _________________.
1a - Wisconsin, because they beat our a&& twice and those losses stung, and because our fans weren't treated well when they went to Madison. From what I hear from other Big Ten fans, that's a common complaint about Madison. Not a jab at you or Wisky, but you asked.
1b - Northwestern, because everyone insists on referring to them as "NU," and we are NU. They are (or should be) NW.
- How do you feel about Maryland and Rutgers joining the conference. Who would you rather have seen?
That, like devil's deal that created the Big XII, is a business move, and inevitable. There were no good choices once Missouri went to the SEC. Missouri would have been a better fit, but it was a TV decision, and they're probably already thinking they've got the KC market pretty well wrapped up with Nebraska and the St. Louis market with Illinois & NW.
- What is your favorite B1G football stadium? What impressed you about it? What was your least favorite?
The only game I've traveled to was 2012 Northwestern. That stadium is quaint and old and comically small. I was down in Texas and saw the
Allen, TX high school stadium about two months before that trip to Evanston. It's crazy that a high school team has a stadium that puts a major college program's stadium to shame.
- What changes have you seen to UNL? Have there been any notable improvements yet as far as improved academics, more infrastructure, better sports teams?
I don't think anything the Big Ten is going to provide will make the athletics at Nebraska "better." We have some pretty top-notch facilities, and pockets deep enough to pay for them. Academically the move was a home run, and should help the university improve in many, many ways.
- How has the move affected your brand? It's been a rough couple of years by your standards, but do you think the Nebraska brand is better off now that it would have been had you stayed in the Big XII? Are your struggles due to the new conference? The coaching? The players?
The Big Ten isn't really affecting our brand much, positively or negatively. We're doing plenty of that on our own, and don't need help, apparently. We've had huge upswings (Jack Hoffman's TD) and huge downswings (Bo's several incidents, blowout losses) that were self-created. Certainly it doesn't hurt to be associated with legendary schools like our Big Ten brethren, but we're a reasonably legendary school in our own right. It's like Walter Payton standing amongst Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Jim Brown and Franco Harris. Walter's cache wouldn't be increased, but he would definitely belong there.
There isn't an unbeatable team in this conference. We've beaten every team in this conference at least once in football (except Indiana - thanks, schedulers!), and we should be able to compete against every team quite well. Nebraska's biggest problem is between its collective ears. Whether that's a coaching issue or a player issue is the big question.