My $.02 about what Osborne and NU are looking at...
1)Texas, a team who runs the show, wants and will get its own TV network, and in the grand scheme of things, could really care less if the conference falls apart. They could go independent. They could move. They could do nothing. Texas really has never felt like they've had to worry about anything. And they're right. They got everything they wanted when the Big 12 was implanted. They'll always take care of their own. Question is...will everyone else?
2)Lots more money.
3)Other sports. The biggest issue in moving to the Big 10 is baseball. And look where that's sitting right now. NU Volleyball would have Penn St. and Michigan to compete with. NU Men's Basketball can struggle quite well in any conference, and the women could compete well, IMO, in the Big 10. The smaller sports will get paid off. Most compete regularly in other conferences currently.
4)Whether it is legit or not, every major conference is being mentioned in expansion. Well, all but the Big 12. The Big 12 seems content to be hitting the 'snooze' button until they have to wake up and start pressing the 'panic' button. And that won't be pretty. As Andy Dufrene said in The Shawshank Redemption..."Either get busy living, or get busy dying."
5)See #2
6)A legitimate TV Deal. Nothing says 'recruiting tool' like seeing a team play on TV every week. I'm pretty sure there are TV's in recruit's living rooms all over Texas. Good recruits want to play at big schools and against big schools. You aren't a great player because you can lock down a CSU receiver. You prove it against an OSU receiver. Last I checked, University of Texas has had to have the same number of active players and scholarships as everyone else. And they'll get who they want, but they can't have them all. When, in the Big 12 era, did NU 'steal' a recruit that was initially going to Texas in the first place?
7)Acedemics. Believe it or not, this does make a difference. And don't think Osborne and Perlman don't consider it. And the Big 10 are hardly slouches in this area.
8)Big 12 Conference game. How happy do you think T.O. was going to play Miami in their backyard every year? Is it any wonder he is frustrated by the prospect of NU going to the Jerry Gym every year?
9)A unique opportunity to control one's destiny, IF the Big 12 is offering what most think they are. Osborne has to be wondering what will happen with ND, that's true. He needs to be more concerned with what's going to happen with Missouri. Because the second Missouri steps out that door, which most think is inevitable, and Nebraska hasn't done anything...well, for all the traditionalists who think come hell or high water NU should stick out the Big 12...watch what the Big 12 tries to whip up as a replacement. Watch that not work out. Watch the Big 12's School Search turn into a NU Houston Nutt-like fiasco. Then watch when they have to find a replacement for CU. Then watch what Texas does. Then watch what OU does. Big 10 Did what they had to do. Pac-10 and SEC did the same. Tradition will stop being fun when you're now in a conference that you better hope you never lose a game or you start being mentioned in the same sentence with Boise State. Or Utah. Or after that giant conference win over 1-5 ISU you wonder what that road trip to Ann Arbor or Columbus or Iowa City or Chicago would've been like as you're packing the family truckster to Tulsa. Or Las Cruces. Or Laramie. The only goal every year becomes beating KSU because that's all that's really left that you care about. All that wonderful 'tradition' has moved on and NU is stuck, mired in that past and tradition.
I can't say I'm happy about all this, but I want NU to look out for NU for the future. If ND goes to the Big 10 and the sun comes up over the Big 12, fine. If we need to go, then stop being abused by a power-hungry state and play with some other legitimate big boys. Just don't go by the wayside.