“Who said the Big Ten had to go first?”
June 3, 2010 by Mike Casazza
You remember that, right? Well, quite clearly Nebraska A.D. Tom Osborne is of the same mind. If you take him at his word, it’s possible the membership of the Big 12 is with him. The conference may soon take some sort of action.
Asked if he expected the Big 12 to stay intact, Osborne said: “I think there is a very good chance it will. We like the Big 12. …
“The presidents will probably make some decision by Friday. It may be yes, no or somewhere in between. I think there will be a serious decision about where people stand.”
The ADs will gather with the board of directors this afternoon, with the board meeting Friday morning.
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said such a commitment would be a “happy occurrence.” He wondered if it was realistic.
“There’s a lot of interest by a lot of the athletic directors to try to get to the same goal I have – some sort of conclusion on the commitment of all institutions,” Beebe said. “I just don’t know if that’s possible or not. The presidents and the board are the ones who have to answer that.”
Say they vote and give their word to the conference — and perhaps Missouri and Nebraska, two alleged Big Ten targets, receive certain pledges back from the conference … like Nebraska getting Oklahoma back on the schedule (more) regularly. What’s the Big Ten to do with dreams of Missouri and/or Nebraska? And imagine the position of power Notre Dame and, to an extent, the Big East suddenly acquire.
And if this seems so obtuse, why then is Boise State looking like it’ll accept an invitation to the Mountain West? Boise State was one of those programs likely to be scooped up in mega-conference construction, possibly by the Big 12. More commonly mentioned, though, were TCU and/or Colorado State … which are both in the MWC and waiting on Boise State. Now the MWC is building something big and bold and keeping teams in the fold while essentially stiff-arming the power conference, like the Big 12 and the Pac Ten, which has been connected with BYU and/or Utah.
So, yeah, who said the Big Ten had to go first?