OWH Barfknecht: During realignment, four others from Big 12 took a look at Big Ten switch

[Mierin]

East: Ohio St, MSU, Michigan, Penn St, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers

West: Nebraska, OU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Northwestern, Illinois

Please make this happen Jim Delaney. I say the Pac12 can have the disease known as Texas.

Can we remove Maryland and Rutgers?

 

[Redux]

East: Ohio St, MSU, Michigan, Penn St, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers

West: Nebraska, OU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Northwestern, Illinois

Please make this happen Jim Delaney. I say the Pac12 can have the disease known as Texas.

Can we remove Maryland and Rutgers?

No, but we can leave them in the east where we will rarely play them if we expand further.

 

[The Duke]

Here is a good read today from The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel who has some wise insight from a Nebraska alum, and current professor at another Big Ten University, speaking on an anonymous basis, on why Nebraska will never leave the Big Ten, but why Oklahoma should apply to join.

http://newsok.com/why-nebraska-never-will-leave-the-big-ten/article/5436874

"A popular question in the realignment discussion is 'Who was the biggest winner in this process? Was it A&M, Rutgers or TCU?' In my mind, the undisputed winner was Nebraska, and it is not even close."

"The Big Ten takes academic stature (particularly research) extremely seriously; the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), which includes the Big Ten schools and the University of Chicago, is an academic partnership, and while it does not dispense funds as do conferences, it is a relatively close-knit group."

"If OU can mitigate the impact of the Grant of Rights and separate itself from OSU, I can see why the lure of the SEC would be overwhelming for the fanbase. If I was leading the University of Oklahoma, however, I would be pushing for a Big Ten invite."