So NU SHould Have Went Back to the Big 12?

[ColoradoHusk]

Brian Christopherson made a great point about any prior discussion of NU leaving the Big Ten for the Big 12, in that it was all tied to nostalgia about the old Big 8, and how NU dominated the end of that conference in football, as well as other thoughts on a close-knit, regional conference of 30+ years ago.  That ended when the Big 8 became the Big 12.  The regional conferences are now over.  NU may not always like our fit in the Big Ten, but there is no going back to regional conferences.

It will be interesting to see how the mega-conferences grow and create divisions and/or pods.  The divisions/pods will be very similar to the old, regional conferences, so get used to competing against Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, etc.  If the Big Ten expands, it will be interesting to see if they try to balance the conference geographically and go more Midwest, or try to expand further into the Southeast.

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

lol people. no universities are leaving the SEC or ACC. 

^This. KU is the only school that I can think of where there would be 2 way interest. ND in bed with ACC. ISU would love a lifeboat to the B1G but would we be interested, and would Iowa allow it? Pac12 media rights deal is almost over, so they would be a much much much easier target than ACC - so Colorado? Really hard to figure out who #16 would be if the B1G was to expand.

 

[TGHusker]

Kansas and Notre Dame, welcome

Yes best option for football and basketball.  Although, it seems like ND is dead set against joining the Big 10.  If not, ND, as an Oklahoman I'd like to see Okla State - just so I can have a game nearby again to attend.  But they don't fit the high nosed image of the Big 10.  Maybe we can pull Colorado in.  Just no more Rutgers type schools again - please!

 

[BigRedBuster]

I can't believe this guy is still employed by the Big Ten.

 

[TGHusker]

^This. KU is the only school that I can think of where there would be 2 way interest. ND in bed with ACC. ISU would love a lifeboat to the B1G but would we be interested, and would Iowa allow it? Pac12 media rights deal is almost over, so they would be a much much much easier target than ACC - so Colorado? Really hard to figure out who #16 would be if the B1G was to expand.

My bet is that if Big 10 expands it will be wt KU and Colorado.  I always desired to see OU in the league for nostalgic reasons - but it is clear they are tied at the hip to Texas.

Move KU and CO into the west division. Move Purdue and Ill to the east. 

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I can't believe this guy is still employed by the Big Ten.

I'm not a fan of Warren, but what do you expect him to say?  I am sure he has already had discussions with the Big Ten Universities and Presidents about potential schools which would be attractive to pursue in the next round of conference shake-ups.

 

[TGHusker]

I can't believe this guy is still employed by the Big Ten.

If they haven't been discussing this already and have a couple of contingency  plans in place, then Warren isn't doing his job. 

 

[internetman]

the problem with KU is the football program. their facilities are third world (in todays standards). the have a stink coming off them. 

football makes all the money. bball is an after thought. also they do not have wrestling which I think is a requirement 

 

[Redux]

If Florida, SCAR and Georgia can prevent FSU, Clemson and GaTech from getting SEC invites I have a feeling TAMU can get enough backing to prevent the Whorns from ever getting the formal invite as well.

But that doesn't bode well for us keeping them out of the B1G...

 

[TGHusker]

Good OPED.   Quoted in part below

https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/football/mckewon-texas-oklahoma-realignment-drama-proves-big-ten-is-right-for-nebraska/article_472ca1b4-ea81-11eb-814a-e37c19b3b970.amp.html

Leave it to Nebraska football’s two biggest enemies over the last 40 years to send a timely reminder that, after a contentious 2020, NU fans needed to hear in 2021.

Red River dance partners Oklahoma and Texas may not land in the SEC for a number of reasons, but Wednesday’s bombshell — starting in the Houston Chronicle and spreading like the smoke of southern barbecue on Twitter — that OU and UT had inquired about joining the conference should make Husker Nation thankful to be rid of their drama.

The Big Ten did not handle things very well last year during the height of the COVID pandemic. Nebraska hasn’t set the league on fire, either — that’s on NU — as league foes look down their nose a bit at their westernmost neighbor.

But the Big Ten is the family that chose Nebraska. It has filled Nebraska’s athletic and academic coffers with money. And as dysfunctional as the league got for a minute last August, it is not led by two self-interested scorpions looking to sting the frog beneath them when the mood strikes.

The Cyclones are poised for their best season in school history, and as of Thursday, they don’t know if they’ll have a conference home in a few years. If it’s true Iowa State’s Jamie Pollard chose to ignore Nebraska’s overtures for the athletic director job, it’s clear now why NU’s job is better.

Kansas, with basketball, can probably line up a league date — Pac-12 or Big Ten — on short notice. Can anyone else? What separates K-State from Colorado State? I frankly don’t want to know. The Big 12 belongs in college football and college basketball. Nebraska fans I know still like watching it.

It’s just not home anymore. The Big 12 is a perpetually heaving bubble threatening to burst because Oklahoma and Texas — yes, both of them — have big, national appetites. Why the SEC would want UT’s ego — money, I guess — is puzzling to me. If I’m Alabama or LSU, you couldn’t pay me enough. But I can see why the league wants Oklahoma football. And while OU dominates the Big 12, I can see why the Sooners would desire a switch to the SEC.

Nebraska is in the Big Ten precisely because Texas and Oklahoma think they’re better than their league. They did then. They do now. They’re presumptuous, both of how they can move their league mates around a chess board and their attractiveness to the SEC.

And yet NU fans felt a certain pull back toward the league last summer, when the Big 12 played football during COVID — with fans — and the Big Ten initially balked before relenting for a late October start date with zero fans. Nebraska has a populist, football-loving streak that suits the cowboy attitude of the Big 12, and heck yes, it felt strange to be in a league far more cautious than NU’s athletic director and coach preferred.

Those rumblings of departure — or in Desmond Howard’s case, the Big Ten kicking Nebraska out of the league — ended quickly when NU’s brass, President Ted Carter and UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green, pledged a commitment to the Big Ten. They’ve done so repeatedly since then. Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren has a good relationship with both. Nebraska is in this league. Second decade. Accept it, adjust and thrive. Make nice. Really. Put your head down and win some games in a league that hasn’t gotten much return from investing in NU so far.

The old home isn’t home anymore. The Big 12 resembles a business deal where the top two investors keep threatening to bail.

Texas had that MO when it bolted the Southwest Conference for the Big 12, and Oklahoma — a program one must respect for its rigorous commitment to self-interest — had that MO when it bailed on the annual NU-OU game when in the 1990s, Nebraska kept kicking the tar out of the Sooners.

Twenty-six years later, Nebraskans rightfully have a nostalgic fondness for the NU-OU series. For decades, man, it was the best. It was history. Thrills, tears — in ‘86, you bet I shed a few — and wins. Without the Sooners, the Huskers may never have reached the pinnacle of the sport. They needed a rival and had a great one. The best one.

Oklahoma’s still Oklahoma, though. Same program that once ducked out of the annual NU game. Same program that flirted with the Pac-12 in 2010. Same program that responded like this on Wednesday.

“The college athletics landscape is shifting constantly. We don’t address every anonymous rumor.”

Scorpion.

 

[Cdog923]

I’m not going to start a big argument, but how familiar are you with UNC?  My family has deep ties to the area.  

UNC is tied to Duke.  They aren’t leaving the ACC. They are a founding member and arguably the most powerful voice in the ACC.. Although, some say that is fading with Clemson’s success in football. However, UNC football is helping keep their spot at the top of the conference. Plus, no way UNC leaders are going to leave the ACC and join the Big 10. It is looked at as an inferior conference in both major sports. #IAGDTBATH

Well, and why would you only take UNC and not Duke?

 

[RedDenver]

Looks like Arkansas is a probable NO to letting Texas into the SEC> That means there needs to be just ONE more NO and Texas will have to limp back to the BIG12

Interesting ALL the teams that have had to play in a conference with the longwhores DONT want them in their conference. Speaks volumes- A&M, Missouri, Arkansas

https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/breaking-up-with-swc-was-right-thing-to-do/

Not sure Missouri is opposed to Texas joining the SEC. I think only Arkansas and A&M will be opposed, but who knows.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Well, and why would you only take UNC and not Duke?

Cuz I hate Duke!! Lol

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

the problem with KU is the football program. their facilities are third world (in todays standards). the have a stink coming off them. 

football makes all the money. bball is an after thought. also they do not have wrestling which I think is a requirement 

You are very much under estimating the value of KU hoops. I'm trying to find it, but I read KU's tier 3 media right revenue was ahead of everyone except Texas. 

 

[internetman]

You are very much under estimating the value of KU hoops. I'm trying to find it, but I read KU's tier 3 media right revenue was ahead of everyone except Texas. 

that could be true. my brain might be stuck in the "tv market" mindset. 

we need to be thinking about the amount of people that go to games and also would subscribe to a disney plus or netflix etc. to watch the games. Many people think this is where its all going. and KU hoops has a TON of fans.