The Big 12 dominoes are stacked and it looks like Nebraska may be the first to fall. According to the Omaha World-Herold, Nebraska could announce that they’re joining the Big 10 as early as Friday. The World-Herold reported yesterday that an “executive at a Big 12 school” told them Tuesday evening that Nebraska would be announcing their intentions soon.
The World-Herold went on to say that although they couldn’t confirm the announcement with NU all signs point to Friday:
“NU Chancellor Harvey Perlman has declined all interviews about conference realignment and expansion. He is expected to address the topic with the Board of Regents at its Friday meeting in Lincoln.
Direct confirmation from Nebraska of a conference change for the Huskers wasn’t immediately available. Sources at two other Big 12 schools told The World-Herald that their athletic directors have instructed them to be ready by week’s end for a briefing on probable Big 12 changes.
Nebraska A.D. Tom Osborne offered implicit confirmation Tuesday night that the timetable on national conference realignment has been accelerated.”
In an earlier post, I said that conference realignment would come down to whoever was first to jump. At the time, I was thinking that the first move would come down to an offer to Texas from either the Big 10 or the Pac 10. I hadn’t considered the impact of Nebraska leaving first. If Nebraska leaves for the Big 10, that will make the Pac 10′s offer to the entire Big 12 South all that much more attractive.
The Dallas Morning News adds to the story pulling from Rival.com’s interview with Chip Brown on ESPN radio yesterday. According to Brown, Nebraska moving to the Big 10 could have a big impact on the Notre Dame factor. According to Brown, conversations between the Big 10 and Notre Dame have been “hot.” It looks as though the Pac 10′s love letters to The Big 12 South is forcing Notre Dame to wake up and smell the coffee.
As much as Notre Dame likes to believe they are the be all and end all of college football, if Nebraska goes to the Big 10, the Big 12 South has that much more incentive to head west to the Pac 10. With the Big 10, the ACC/Big East, and SEC all turning into 16 team divisions, Notre Dame is suddenly starting to realize that they may not have a date for the prom. No matter how much Notre Dame likes to believe that big wins over Army and Navy justify a shot at the national championship, it just won’t hold up in the world of super conferences.
In an attempt to hold on to their glory days, Brown says that Notre Dame has told the Big 10 that if they join the division, they want the expansion to stop with Notre Dame and according to Brown, the Big 10 has agreed.
So (granted this is all accurate), if Notre Dame joins the Big 10, Nebraska stays in the Big 12. It also means that Missouri stays in the Big 12 and for the most part, the Big 12 North stays in one piece–much less incentive for Texas to bail out taking it’s friends in the south with it. However, if Notre Dame says no to the Big 10, then chances are the Big 12 get’s decimated.
Given a choice, I like the idea of Notre Dame joining the Big Ten and it all stops there. Notre Dame is a natural fit for the Big Ten both geographically and historically. It would also be a lot of fun to see the Buckeyes pummel Notre Dame on an annual basis. If the cards do fall, there’s nothing wrong with Nebraska. A team full of corn-fed boys playing hard hitting football fits pretty well with the Big 10. However, I’m not overly excited about filling out the 16 with the Big East. Once again, we may find ourselves struggling to justify strength of schedule in the Big 10.
However, if we do go to super conferences of 16 teams, I would think the impact on the BCS system would be huge as a playoff system would naturally fall into place. Problem is, what do you do with the Boises and other non-super conference schools that want to make a run at it?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
One of the often overlooked side effects of expanding the Big Ten is the reduced importance that it would place on the annual Michigan v. Ohio State game that for many Buckeye and Wolverine fans is currently (and has long been) the most anticipated weekend of the sports calendar.
Of course UM and OSU would still play each other annually but the stakes wouldn’t be the same because geographically they’d almost certainly be in the same division (Big Ten North?) in an expanded conference and at best the winner of the Buckeye/Wolverines game would just go on to play the winner of the Big Ten South.
Personally, I like my rivalries the way they are. Even talk of Missouri changing conferences makes me lament losing the MU/KU rivalry and there are surely numerous other time honored traditions that stand to be shaken up in pursuit of the all mighty dollar by chancellors.
I couldn’t agree more Jack (that is you isn’t it?). No matter how you slice it, if you expand the Big Ten, something will be lost with the Ohio State/Michigan game.
If you place them in the same division, then the game becomes the second to last game of the year and it’s only for the playoff. If you place them in separate divisions, then there’s a good chance they won’t meet.
There is nothing like an Ohio State/Michigan game with a bowl game at stake. Even better, step back to 2006 when you’ve got a national championship game on the line. Playing for the chance to play in the Big 10 championship just isn’t the same.
At this point, I don’t think there’s any turning back. From the perspective of rivalries, Notre Dame/Michigan would want to preserve their game. That would potentially place Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan in the same conference.
If you can keep it to 12, you could still possibly maintain rivalry games in the same way that we do now.
No question, you’ve got to protect the rivalries and I’m not sure how you do that with conference expansion.
Notre Dame is not a good fit for the Big 10 academically. They aren’t a hard science/research school and I am afraid to break it to you, but the billions of research money dolled out every year makes the athletics money look like chump change.
Good fits for the Big 10 would be Nebraska, Missouri and Pitt.
That’s an interesting point. I wonder how much academics comes into play when it comes to Big Ten expansion. Academic concerns were expressed in the Gordon Gee emails obtained by the Columbus Dispatch.
Does it matter to the James Cancer Center who’s in the Big Ten? I ask that as a serious question, not facetiously.
We tend to think in terms of football only when we talk expansion.