Nebraska to the Big Ten: Who deserves the blame?

This video now accompanies all discussion of conference realignment and the Big XII


Today the University of Nebraska-Lincoln announced that it will be joining the Big Ten conference in the 2011-2012 season.  It really wasn't a shock since we really knew it was going to happen since Thursday.

I will get to welcoming the Cornhuskers later, there is one issue here that I honestly think deserves a little more attention right now because the National Media, particularly Daivd Ubben of ESPN, has this completely wrong.

Who do we blame for the demise of the Big XII conference?



Obviously this is a bit of a futile exercise as change is inevitable.  The fact that Colorado and Nebraska got change that will help their programs in the future both financially and competitively should be seen as a positive not a negative as some people are going to paint this. But would you rather be a Cyclone or Wildcat fan right now?


The truth is that people are seriously blaming the Cornhuskers not only for abandoning their traditional rivals, but for destroying the conference they had once called home.  While Nebraska was certainly part of the chain of the events that led to the conference's collapse, to call the Huskers the guilty party in all of this is simply incorrect.  Texas is the real architect of the Big XII's demise.

Perlman layed it out extremely rationally in his press conference. Texas and the rest of the conference were still on uncertain ground as to whether or not they were staying. He had to chose between pulling the trigger or laying the fate of the program at the feet of the Longhorns who everyone knows were not his best buddies. He made the call to take Nebraska's future into his own hands and move to the Big Ten, which for intents and purposes looks like an extremely sound decision for both the athletic and academic aspects of Nebraska.

People will say that Lincoln ruined the Big XII, but Perlman is right, you can lose two teams and still operate a conference. The Pac 10 has operated with only ten teams for years, so has the Big Ten.

No, if Texas really wanted to make this happen it could. You still have Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech who all have all proven that they are just fine at playing football. It isn't like Kansas, Kansas State, and Baylor bring nothing to the table either, all three made good runs into the NCAA basketball tournament last year and KU has a recent National Title to it's credit. Even Iowa State and Missouri bring something to the table in the non-revenue sports to keep the conference competitive.

Would it be easy? No, but it is far from unfeasible. Nebraska isn't exactly the most populous state in the country, and Colorado brought almost nothing to the table competitively. You would still have plenty of television sets in the conference and while the media deal would be smaller, you wouldn't necessarily be splitting it as many times anyway.

Sure the Huskers weren't ignorant of their situation, but that hardly makes them guilty.  Texas could just as easily meet with the Board of Regents on Tuesday and decide that it is going to try to keep the current Big XII viable. A&M and Oklahoma have both pledged to stay if the Longhorns do, so it isn't like the other major programs are planning on bolting out the door.


Rather than salvage the situation in the Big XII Texas has called it quits, and has hung a scarlet letter on Nebraska.  Sports writers keep saying that the Huskers leaving was the straw that broke the camel's back. But no, that has to go to Texas.
 
If the Longhorns leave, it is over. The fact that the Austin cycle has been spitting venom at the folks in Lincoln the past few days doesn't change the fact that Texas is still capable of keeping the conference together. Forget adding teams, a league with Texas and Oklahoma wouldn't lose it's BCS bid and the league would still be more interesting to watch than the Big East. The ball is in your court Texas. You still have the power to keep the conference alive. If you are really sincere about making the Big XII work then you will. No one should blame the Horns for wanting to leave, but if they do they should definitely take the blame for putting an end to the conference.