badger79

The guy who wrote the SI piece is an SEC shill. He has some ridiculous radio show in Alabama where Auburn and Bama fans snipe at each other all the time. As for "struggling with relevancy," I'll buy it when half the programs in college football aren't on their knees begging for a Big Ten invite.

This is gonna be exciting! Heh, there's a legend that Hayden Fry had peppermint schnapps poured on him when Iowa was coming out of the tunnel way back in the day. Corso picked Wisconsin to beat Ohio State last year when Gameday was in town. It's gonna be a great time in Madison! You Husker fans better bring it!

Here's the one where they're all cheerleaders: http://www.maizenbrew.com/2010/6/4/1500646/the-rumormill-the-big-xii-to-pac Every Day Should Be Saturday has a new funny one, Behind the Music-style, about the breakup of the Big 12: http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2011/9/8/2412677/when-the-band-broke-up-the-oral-history-of-the-big-12

For some reason they refuse to schedule 2-for-1 deals with anybody, like they're too good for them or something. They prefer those neutral-site games where ESPN arranges the deal and ponies up the cash. Thus last year's game against Virginia Tech and this year's game against Georgia. Their program is still riding the coattails of that big win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. FOUR YEARS AGO.

Maybe ridiculous statements like this are why Wisconsin engenders fuzzier feelings within the Nebraska fanbase?

I have never heard anybody say Wisconsin is modeled after Iowa. Barry Alvarez himself has said he's modeled his football philosophies and running a program based on what he went through at Nebraska. Bielema has carried on much of Barry's philosophy about running a football program. To the best of my knowledge, Alvarez has never said anything about it, but many many Badger fans have speculated that the reason Wisconsin's unis resemble Nebraska's so much nowadays (especially with the brighter red) is because of Barry's Husker background. Meanwhile, carry on with your discussion. I think Nebraska is my new second-favorite B1G team.

Texas causing trouble for the rest of the conference? GEE, NOBODY SAW THIS COMING. Just like I predicted when the Longhorn Network was announced...the serfs will pay the lord for the privilege of watching their team. Not the serfs' team, the lord's team.

Welcome aboard Huskers! Can't wait to see you guys Oct. 1 at the Camp!

um no. NC state runs a spread attack out of the shotgun while whisky runs a pro set where he will be under center. the offense is COMPLETELY different. Wilson himself said the two playbooks are pretty similar. http://host.madison.com/sports/blog/article_879a10b8-a0e7-11e0-a7b7-001cc4c03286.html In any case, Paul Chryst tailors the offense around his players' strengths. Last year obviously we had the great offensive line and the running backs and the "game manager" at quarterback. I don't expect us to suddenly run a spread offense, but with Wilson under center the offense will likely feature a few different looks and formations.

BTN might also be saving the '96 Fiesta Bowl for a future edition of Greatest Games.

I agree with those who have said this isn't really a big deal. It's just kind of eyebrow-raising. I suppose it's something to talk about over the long boring summer! Sometimes it does seem like the Big Ten is bending over backward to make Nebraska feel welcome, so as not to repeat the mistakes they made when Penn State joined. That transition wasn't handled quite so well; there was a lot of resentment from some of the schools, the athletic directors and fans, and nothing was really done to soothe that resentment.

It also strikes me as odd that a Nebraska player was on this list, like when Jack Ham was named a Big Ten Icon (there were other old school PSU players on that list too). What? Jack Ham never played a down of Big Ten football. There will be many years to come for Nebraska players to make their mark in the B1G. To pretend the Huskers have been retroactively playing in the conference is just weird and ignores Nebraska's and the Big Ten's ACTUAL history.

Regarding the original article, the real reason Delany's timeline was pushed up was because of Larry Scott's invitation of all the Big 12 schools, not the stupid ultimatum by Beebe. I think that forced Delany to act faster than he wanted to or anticipated. The B1G does not do things quickly -- the fact that they decided to explore expansion in December and actually expanded in June is remarkably fast for the Big Ten presidents. I agree with this. Everyone is pretty much thrilled with the Nebraska addition, but 14 or 16 teams would not feel like the Big Ten anymore. How often would you play teams not in your division? As it is, as a Badger fan I'm sick at not playing Iowa ever year (I'm sure Nebraska fans understand, what with the way your rivalry with Oklahoma was treated). I really hope 12 teams is it for B1G expansion. Notre Dame continues to be all emo over being blackballed by Michigan like a hundred years ago. I doubt they'll ever be in the B1G.

I like B1G. I like how message board users have already started to use it to refer to our conference. It's short and sweet. We're the B1G.

There were reports today that the exclusive 2:30 window for ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 is gone, so BTN will be moving more kickoffs to that timeslot, I think. http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/123139028.html

IIRC every team has to be on BTN twice each season. Do you guys have a start time/channel for the Northwestern game yet? That's prime for an 11 a.m. start on BTN.

There are overflow channels on BTN for football season. For instance, here in Philadelphia, Comcast has the BTN on channel 715 (and 855 for HD). The overflow channels are on 711, 712, 713, 714, so they can televise multiple B1G games at once. (Unfortunately as of yet Comcast doesn't carry the overflow channels in HD, which sucks.) You can find out if you get the overflow channels here. Just type in your zip code and select your cable provider, and the Gamefinder will let you know if you get them. http://www.bigtennetwork.com/generic/programming/Gamefinder If you don't get the overflow channels and you live in Husker country, you will at the very least be able to watch Nebraska on the main BTN channel since the games are regionally televised. The BTN's primetime schedule essentially took every school that didn't have a primetime game on ABC/ESPN and gave them a primetime game. That's probably why Nebraska's game against MSU didn't get picked; you guys already have primetime games against Wisconsin and Ohio State.

The marshmallows were banned years and years ago from Camp Randall. The bags of urine -- nobody throws those anymore. We now throw broken beer bottles (they have to be empty, because why would anyone waste beer like that?), but only at grandmothers and infants. The students at Camp Randall will be loud, drunk and will curse. But I don't know a single college stadium where there aren't drunk, loud, cursing students (okay, maybe Minnesota or Northwestern). Loose language? Are you planning on attending a football game or high tea for the queen? As if the Ohio State fans roll out the red carpet and throw flower petals to welcome opposing fans to Columbus.

It's confirmed! UW-Nebraska will be a night game televised by ESPN: http://host.madison.com/sports/college/football/article_7ce4788c-6cd7-11e0-b276-001cc4c03286.html See you in Madison on October 1! It's going to be a blast.

That's true, but it's not the primary reason we lost. John Clay and Montee Ball were running the ball really well up the middle, and our OC Paul Chryst started mixing in little cutesy plays that he likes -- rollout passes thrown to the other side of the field and sweep runs to the outside that fed right into TCU's speed on defense. Then with 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Chryst went back to...running the ball up the middle, and suddenly the offense was moving again. We were hit with penalties and incompletions, stuff that hadn't happened all year. But I still say it was getting away from running the ball up the middle that lost us that game. I'm getting angry just thinking about it all over again. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the UW/Nebraska game. It's going to be a great atmosphere and you Husker fans will love Madison and Camp Randall.

I think we'll be fine. We lost a couple of offensive linemen, but their replacements are just as good or nearly as good. They just need to get used to each other, get in sync (starting center Peter Konz is not practicing due to a high ankle sprain). I'm not worried about them or the running backs situation. Quarterback is probably the biggest question mark, but the offense Wisconsin runs usually requires that the QB be more of a "game manager" than anything else. Scott Tolzein just did that really well because he was so efficient. It's true, we probably lost to TCU because for some reason, we forgot that our primary strength is running the ball up the middle. If you watch Wisconsin's first and last drives of that game, that's exactly how the offense moved down the field easily. In between, we just tried to get too cute. That game was unbelievably frustrating to watch for that reason alone. But -- TCU's defense was really very good though, and they deserved a lot of credit for stopping Wisconsin's offense, which was quite the machine last season. We might not win the Big Ten next season, but I wouldn't count on an easy win over Wisconsin at Camp Randall.

B1G games in the 3:30 regional slot on ABC are always mirrored on ESPN/ESPN2 in out-of-market areas. BTN has several alternate channels that many satellite/cable carriers open up for the noon games on Saturday. You have to check with your satellite/cable operator to see if they'll carry these channels. The games are regionally televised, though, so if you're in Husker country, then the Nebraska game will be on the main channel. IIRC, all teams are required to have at least two games per season on BTN. Here's BTN's Gamefinder, a useful tool that will help you find what channel any B1G game is on: http://www.bigtennetwork.com/generic/programming/Gamefinder I'm really looking forward to your guys' first visit to the Camp. Hopefully it will be a night game with ESPN Gameday there and everything, since it's your first B1G game. Welcome home, Huskers!

Wow, this just strikes me as odd. I was hoping BTN would televise Nebraska's spring game so the rest of us Big Ten fans could get a little primer on your team. What happens next year when you guys are already in the Big Ten? I don't think Osborne will have a choice about televising the spring game then.

Shoelaces is Denard Robinson's nickname.

Great win for you guys last night, hope you win the rest of your games and crush the Big 12 on your way out. I'm scared to see Taylor Martinez in the Big Ten the next three years. Yikes! He'll give Shoelaces a run for his money.