Osborne's comments on the Big 10 expansion

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“I don't see any indication that Nebraska is looking to go to another conference at this point,” Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne said Monday on a radio show. “There's a lot of history in the old Big Eight and then the Big 12. But if they decide to add a team, it will be interesting to see who they choose."

OK, maybe I'm reading too much into this, but sounds like a very carefully orchestrated statement.

Lots of wiggle room words and phrases such as...

"I don't see any indication"

"...that Nebraska is looking to go to another conference"

"...at this point."

I interpret this statement as "We haven't yet been invited. If we are, we will consider our options."

Am I out of line on this? Please tell me I am.

 
I think that in our current state we should probably be more concerned about fielding a competent offense and not whether or not we can go into a different conference.

But no..I don't think TO is leaving his statement open to discussion.

 
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The big ten has no interest in Nebraska.

Not qualified in their minds.

No money to bring to the table.

Missouri is the only Big 12 program that would interest them.

Fan bases in Kansas City and St Louis.

Above average in football and basketball.

 
They are more interested in MU than NU.

Agreed, the last thing the Big 10 wants is NU in their conference.

Nu doesn't want to be a part of that conference either.

If we are going to do a conference shuffle, then I do like the idea of:

North:

Nebraska

Kansas

Kansas State

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Iowa State

South:

Texas

Texas Tech

Texas A&M

Houston

Baylor

TCU

Colorado can go to some other conference, I don't really care.

 
I do not want TCU added to the Big 12, giving them even more of a Texas pipeline now that they're part of a better conference. Nebraska leaving for the Big 10 would be suicide. We'd lose many of our Texas connections and suffer for it.

 
ira lol... CU isn't our rival, but I get your joke!

Basically, it boils down to just Texas schools in the south, vs the northern schools from OK, KS, NE, and Iowa State.

 
I'm torn because losing missouri could make things interesting. Who do they replace them with? Could be a nice little mess and the texas12 deserves it.

 
There will be a lot of factors that go into this decision, but most of them don't go in Nebraska's favor.

For one, Missouri has around 5 million people in their state. We are bordering right around the 2 million mark. We don't bring a lot to the table in that regard.

We also have a lot of ties to the Big 12, something that Missouri doesn't have. We have a lot more football tradition (which is the main focus of this whole argument anyways) and we are more grounded in the conference than MU is.

Lastly, I think we will be a last ditch resort to consider. The Big 10's first goal will be Notre Dame, because they have wanted them for quite awhile. Next I believe they will look to Rutgers or Pitt, given the geographical locations. Their last resort will be to look to the Big 12, where they will immediately look at MU.

Iowa State has been mentioned, but given that most of the Iowa fan base is a Hawkeyes and the revenue stream doesn't do much for them, it wouldn't be the right fit.

 
irafreak said:
I'm torn because losing missouri could make things interesting. Who do they replace them with? Could be a nice little mess and the texas12 deserves it.
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If Missouri leaves, my best guess would be that TCU would be added and then they would restructure the conferences is a bit, possibly moving one of the Oklahoma schools up to the Big 12.

 
Enhance89 said:
irafreak said:
I'm torn because losing missouri could make things interesting. Who do they replace them with? Could be a nice little mess and the texas12 deserves it.
Click to expand...
If Missouri leaves, my best guess would be that TCU would be added and then they would restructure the conferences is a bit, possibly moving one of the Oklahoma schools up to the Big 12.
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If that scenario played out I would laugh because Texas would have to play TCU every year. Ha!

 
Enhance89 said:
We also have a lot of ties to the Big 12, something that Missouri doesn't have. We are more grounded in the conference than MU is.
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I guess i am confused by what you mean Enhance89. MU is an original member of the Big6/8 and has been in the same conference as Nebraska since 1907 (since the Missouri Valley). MU's ties and bonds to this conference as just a strong. Mu was not all that happy with the expansion to the big 12 and looked at leaving for the big10 at that time. I am a Big8 guy and always have been. But the big 12 is not the big 8 so take that for what its worth

 
Enhance89 said:
We also have a lot of ties to the Big 12, something that Missouri doesn't have. We have a lot more football tradition (which is the main focus of this whole argument anyways) and we are more grounded in the conference than MU is.
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Actually, if you trace the Big 12 back through the Big 8 and back to the Missouri Valley, only Mizzou and Kansas have been in since the beginning, with out interruption. Nebraska quit for a few years (don't know why...tired of getting butt kicked maybe?). So, since Mizzou has been playing football in conference the entire time, NU is LESS grounded and has LESS tradition.

 
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