Big 12 football: Missing the Cornhuskers

[AgMarauder04]

The Big 12 will ALWAYS be a substandard conference as long as Texas is running things. There is obviously a pecking order, and the schools that could get away, did. When Nebraska, Colorado, A&M, and Mizzou left, it took a chunk out of their viewership and quality. They replaced those schools with WVU and TCU? Are you kidding?

[NUance]

Why all the angst by this Oklahoma writer? The Sooners are fine old, prestigious ballers. Stronghorns love them.

 

[AgMarauder04]

OUs problem is they are tethered to OSU. While any number of conferences would be happy to have OU, OSU is a different story.

[Saunders]

Auto-play videos should be punishable by death.

[STL Husker]

Wasn't one of the reasons why we lost AAU status was because the research done at UNMC doesn't count towards what UNL does for research even though they are affiliated? If they had counted that, UNL is easily in the AAU.

 

Yea something about the medical school not being co-located with UNL. AAU isn't a huge deal, it's important to the B1G powers that be and is a factor in expansion but I wouldn't invest too much in the designation, heck KU and ISU are members and they're not stellar schools, not terrible but far from elite...and who knows, maybe NU can get back in, the CIC should help with time.

 

Also, I don't believe the AAU factors in agriculture research. I remember reading something that ag research funded by the FDA or USDA isn't accounted for by the AAU. Pair this with the fact that the Med Center isn't counted either and it's amazing that we were able to hang on as long as we did.

[deedsker]

OUs problem is they are tethered to OSU. While any number of conferences would be happy to have OU, OSU is a different story.

 

Whatever happened to the OSU appocalypse? Are heads rolling yet or did the NCAA fudge up again?

[BigRedBuster]

What I will never understand is OU selling their souls to Texas. It totally baffles me. I read a very in depth article one time about exactly how the Big XII was formed. This articled talked about Texas and OU planning the entire transformation and actually meeting with TV execs in New York before any of the other members of the two conferences knew about it. Only after they were satisfied with the meetings in NY did they bring everyone else on board. It was an easy sell to everyone in the Big 8 because that conference was starting to lose money and everyone was tired of getting beat up by Nebraska. The SWC was toast no matter what happened.

 

Then, once the Big XII was formed, OU couldn't do anything without Texas's permission. Heck, during all of the conference realignment over the last 5 years OUs AD flat out said..."We will do whatever Texas does".

 

OU was once a proud University that thought on their own. Now, they are a puppet to a master that doesn't have their best interest at heart.

[AgMarauder04]

I can't imagine staying in that dumpster fire of a conference.

[EbylHusker]

Yeah, I definitely don't miss the Big 12. And even if you didn't really agree with the move, it was worth it just to hear Osborne give that exit speech. The verbal gentleman's middle finger to the Big 12 was an instant classic.

[Count 'Bility]

I would really love to see a transcript of what was said at some of them behind-closed-door meetings. I bet there was more fire from Osborne than we've ever seen on the sideline, just on the basis of his demeanor and leadership throughout that whole episode.

[HuskerShark]

I don't miss the Big 12, simply because I've always been a fan of smash-mouth, physical running football. So moving away from the basketball on turf in the Big 12 was great for me.

 

As far as rivalries, there really weren't any that I miss from the Big 12. It was always fun putting a beating on Mizzou (with the exception of a couple of years) and K-State, but I feel much more tension now with Wisconsin, Michigan State, Northwestern, Michigan, and hopefully someday Ohio State. I'm not looking forward to the Rutgers and Maryland additions next year simply because of the conference division changes. I feel like we got stuck in the weaker half of the conference once again. It's up to our team to step it up and go get that B1G title, because it is definitely up for grabs next year. I'd say it's between Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska.

[knapplc]

If any of our former Big 8 brethren miss Nebraska so much they're welcome to schedule yearly non-conference games against us.

 

Somehow I doubt Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State are going to beat a path to Eichorst's door to get that scheduled.

[ShawnWatson]

Don't forget this is the same idiot that wrote this article before the A&M and Missouri departures:

 

http://newsok.com/on...article/3580112

 

 

 

 

Last June, the Big 12 had all the solidarity of the last days of the Soviet Union. A confederation tied together with baling wire.

This June, the Big 12 is united. Would surprise no one if we caught Big 12 fathers roasting marshmallows at the conference meetings, singing kumbaya.

 

FILE - This July 27, 2010, file photo shows Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe addressing the media during a news conference at the Big 12 Football Media Day, in Irving, Texas. An Associated Press analysis of tax records shows that four of college football's six powerhouse conferences that form the core of the BCS paid their top executives $1 million or more. In 2009, the most recent for which records are available, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is the highest paid at $1.6 million. He is followed by Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford ($1.1 million), Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive ($1 million) and Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe ($997,000). (AP Photo/Cody Duty) ORG XMIT: NY165

 

The 10 remaining Big 12 schools stand arm in arm, extolling their commitment to each other and their desire to let no other school in the league.

The Big 12 this month even voted in equitable revenue-sharing for its new Fox cable contract. If you've got extra icepicks sitting around, mail them to Hell.

“I think it's a good overall sign of health and stability of the Big 12 moving forward,” Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw told me the other day. “It's great to see so much cohesiveness of the conference. What a difference a year makes.”

The remaining 10 adore the new setup. Expansion back to 12 schools is not even on the horizon. “It's a non-issue,” McCaw said.

Not to pick at scabs, but the Big 12 has been all lovey-dovey since Nebraska left. I know the Cornhuskers tried to paint Texas as the troublemaker in the Big 12 firestorm, and it's always fun to throw stones at the Longhorns.

But as soon as Nebraska went out the door, everyone started getting along swimmingly. Even voted in equitable revenue-sharing, which always was a deal-breaker for UT, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Maybe the Huskers were the problem all along.

Oh, you can't get anyone to say that. Commissioner Dan Beebe is the only one still willing to sling arrows at Nebraska. “On the Nebraska point, they never really liked, or at least (athletic director) Tom Osborne never really liked, the Big 12, I don't think,” Beebe told ESPN radio in Austin, Texas, earlier this month.

Osborne's final year coaching Husker football was 1997. He returned to campus in 2007 as athletic director. Less than three years later, Nebraska had left the league.

In an interview with ESPN, Beebe expressed regret for coming down so hard on Osborne, but then reaffirmed his original claim: “From the day that I sat down with him when he became the athletic director, he expressed strong concern about a lot of the things that happened when the Big 12 was formed, even though it was 13 or 14 or 15 years previous.”

[AgMarauder04]

If any of our former Big 8 brethren miss Nebraska so much they're welcome to schedule yearly non-conference games against us. Somehow I doubt Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State are going to beat a path to Eichorst's door to get that scheduled.

 

Of course they don't. It's why they aren't scheduling A&M either. The current conference is pretty weak. Currently, only Baylor, OSU, and OU are any good. If you run the table in that conference, you get a shot at the MNC. The same will hold true for the playoff. Why jeopardize that by scheduling a GOOD B1G or SEC team? It's also why they don't have a CCG.

[BigRedBuster]

If any of our former Big 8 brethren miss Nebraska so much they're welcome to schedule yearly non-conference games against us.

 

Somehow I doubt Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State are going to beat a path to Eichorst's door to get that scheduled.

 

 

Well, OU would need to get permission from Texas.