Leave it to Nebraska. In this college football-crazy state, even the heat and storms typical of August but happening in June cannot keep the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers off the front page. The University's Board of Regents, in conjunction with some governing board for the entire Big Ten college athletic conference, has announced that Nebraska will be leaving its affiliation with the Big XII [pretentious, isn't it?--Ed.] and joining the Big Ten by the end of 2011. [And if you think I am kidding, I assure you, I am not. Local TV stations took down their weather warning crawlers this afternoon to announce first, that the Regents were meeting to discuss the change in affiliation; second, that the Regents were voting on it; and third, that the affiliation was going to change.--Ed]
The Regents have justified this by saying that several other members of the current Big XII will not commit to staying long-term in that conference, so it's in Nebraska's best interest to be proactive rather than wait until presented with a "fait accompli." The Regents also touted certain academic affiliations and certifications which both Nebraska and every school in the Big Ten maintain, and apparently to which not every school in the Big XII ascribes or aspires.
I don't care how they try to justify it. It's just wrong, on so many levels . . . let me count a few of the ways: (1) there are no natural rivals for Nebraska in the Big Ten; Iowa doesn't count. I don't care that Iowa is right next door; NU is used to chewing on Iowa State once a year. Cyclones go better with Cornhuskers than Hawkeyes do, and even that fit is not great. NU has always looked to its west and south for its main competition every year, clear back to the days of the Big Six. Looking east and north is not what we do--that's going backwards. We are natural affiliates of the other Plains States, not the Rust Belt.
Besides, Ohio State and Michigan already have their own classic rivalry going. NU's most natural rival is and always has been Oklahoma, from the glory days of the Big Six through the Big Eight and even the Big XII. Yes, bad enough when the Big Eight turned into the Big XII and split into North and South divisions, thus forcing NU's annual "big game" rival to be Colorado and not Oklahoma. Colorado football does not have the same historic cachet as NU-OU. Colorado just hasn't been good enough, long enough. [Not to mention that Colorado has already announced its plans to switch to the Pac 10 from the Big XII.--Ed.] I'm sorry, but football on Thanksgiving weekend MUST include the NU-OU game. Traditions matter in college football more than in just about any American sporting endeavor other than baseball. Eating turkey sandwiches while watching NU play anyone but OU on the day after Thanksgiving has never felt or tasted quite right. Knowing it's never coming back will feel and taste even worse.
OK, in the Big Ten, there IS Penn State, against whom Nebraska has played some memorable bowl games, but that just leads me to my second point. (2) The Big Ten cannot count. It already has eleven schools in its membership; what's it going to call itself after NU is officially embraced, too? "The Big Ten Plus Two"? Awkward. "The Big Twelve"? Allowing for the "XII," already taken . . . though who knows? If the Big XII really is falling apart the way the NU Board of Regents seems to think, maybe the name will become available. But will the conference still have only twelve members at that point? Rumors have been rife for years that Notre Dame has been recruited heavily by the Powers That Be in the Big Ten. Maybe the Fighting Irish will stop fighting assimilation. Whether ND stays independent or joins the conference, however, the conference's name still won't match its numbers. And that leads me to my third point: (3) despite the NU Board of Regents' touting of NU's and the Big Ten's high academic standards and qualifications, that inability to count has taken us back to the days where the "N" on the NU football helmet stands for "knowledge."
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