On Friday, the University of Nebraska became the 12th member of the Big Ten Conference of which my Penn State Nittany Lions belong as the ahem, 11th member. Nebraska, along with the University of Colorado, left the Big XII Conference which now has 10 teams. Ah, irony, temporarily as it may be. For all I know, as I type this, the Big XII is officially destroyed with Texas and others looking at following Colorado to the Pac-10 which doesn’t work too well since none of those teams are in the Pacific Ocean watershed. A minor thing, but I take hydrology seriously when it comes to conference names. It isn’t something trivial like literal numbering in the name of the conference.
As for our new Cornhusker partners, I have to remind you of a joke — what does the N on their helmet stand for?
Knowledge
That one never gets old.
From a football standpoint, I’m happy to see Nebraska coming into the Big Ten. The prospect of Nittany Lions vs. Cornhuskers games is appealing. Though there is a limited series between the two programs and the 1994 National Championship debacle where pollsters voted Nebraska ahead of Penn State, in part because “Dr. Tom” Osbourne had never been #1. Wishy-washy rubbish of course, though it happened again in the coaches poll after the ’97 season. Anyway, that gets the haterade going, but there is also some on the field history which Kevin McGuire wrote about in detail last week for Examiner.com. Here is what I remember from the PSU vs. UNL game I went to:
Good times, that ticket was so worth the extra $100 I paid for it (twice, because my wife was there too).
Anyhow, this is just the beginning of conference expansion. Since Nebraska has about as many television viewers as Philadelphia, the obvious goal of the Big Ten adding programs to dramatically expand the Big Ten Network’s footprint is not really met. I expect two more teams, including an eastern one. Rutgers has been mentioned in the past and there seems to be some talk that University of Maryland; Terps fans are getting a little nervous (Testudo Times). That would work from a selfish perspective — I could get up for attending Penn State games in College Park bi-annaully.
Notre Dame is of course the conference’s other desired pick, but who knows if the golden domers will ever give up independence. It is in their best interest to do so financially, but that has not been convincing enough yet. I could take or leave them truthfully. They are the second most popular football program in Pennsylvania though.
Some other notes
If this is becomes a trophy game, I want it to be a two-sided Interstate 80 shield. One side with have Pennsylvania, the other will have Nebraska. I-80 is about 12 miles way from Happy Valley and goes right through Lincoln.
The NCAA’s decision to allow color vs. color was made for Wisconsin vs. Nebraska
Lastly, Nebraska coming to the Big Ten will have some implications for women’s volleyball. While Penn State has been #1 forever it seems, Nebraska is not far behind. It should be a great conference rivalry.