"Let's bring Nebraska back." - Bill Snyder
- Thread starter St. Anger
- Start date
I have no desire to return to the B12. Yes, rivalries are still developing for us in the B1G, but you can't manufacture tradition overnight. It's a much better fit for us. The Big 8 was great, but it's just not viable anymore. We knew that when we joined up with the four from the SWC. It was supposed to allow our conference to survive. Instead, we weren't treated on equal terms. Texas had all the power and lorded over us until they were jilted in 2010. The rest of our former conference brethren used the occasion to chip away at our feet while Texas held us down. Can't say that I miss them.
Personally I think a lot of Nebraska fans have talked themselves into the narrative about Texas and made it worse than it actually was. If we keep repeating it, it must be true. I get there's no going back and because of the defections the B12 is not what it once was (or could have been). All that aside, I liked those days a lot better than what we have now. I'm generally bored stiff on Saturdays now.
Good point. I love Osborne but he let things get too personal...and when he felt jilted he was ready for the Big Ten. (BTW...let's not rewrite history. We were not for a conference network that paid everybody the same. We thought we deserved more than our lowly brethren.)
Are you bored stiff because we are in a different conference or because we aren't a top program anymore?
I would bet that if we were in Ohio State's shoes right now, you wouldn't be bored stiff on Saturdays, and being in the B1G would not be such an issue. If we can become competitive with the big dogs once again, conference affiliation is not something we would be talking about right now...
Probably a little of both. I don't feel like we really "belong" in the B1G. We're in the family but we're not really "in the family." I couldn't give two sh*ts about Purdue, Illinois, Rutgers, Penn State, etc. Michigan and OSU are the alpha dogs of the conference and the rest are just part of the pack.
In the Big 12 I cared about what was going on in Norman, Lawrence, Manhattan, Austin, on fall Saturdays, etc. I cared about the B12 Tournament in KC. I cared about the baseball tournament in OKC. I couldn't even tell you if the B1G has a baseball tournament and I have to think hard about where the bball tourney is held (Chicago?).
Had the B12 stayed together, the money would have been there and would not have been an issue. But, it didnt. And it will never be the same.
I've never considered NU athletics 2nd tier. Anytime an entity proposes that they should get more money and NU athletics should get less, by default that is at best 2nd tier. 4 schools left the conference, there was a problem. And at least OU President David(?) Boren thinks there's still a problem. You can do nothing and play the victim, or you can take control. I'm glad we're gone.
Seven straight seasons of losing four games that include spectacular meltdowns by both the coach and team has that effect too.
You seem to think that the Texas narrative is an imaginary concept by a set of Nebraska fans. Seemed like Mizzou, CU, and A&M didn't like the status quo back then either. We also didn't see any SEC, Big Ten, or Pac-10 teams jump at the opportunity to join the Big XII. I think you're overrating the stability and politics in the old Big XII.
So you care about the Big 12 baseball tournament which was in OKC, but you don't care about the B1G baseball tournament which was in Omaha last year and will be again next year. I know 20,000 people(a record for a conference baseball tournament in any conference) last year that cared about it. Sounds like you've just made up your mind to not care because you're bitter. That's your problem-not anything to do with our conference affiliation.
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/roa...nt-nebraska-huskers-are-better-where-they-are
When it jumped to the Big Ten, it joined a more progressive conference that offered greater stability, an elevated academic reputation and much better league revenues. Nebraska's annual share rose from around $7 million per year to more than $22 million.
Of perhaps even greater value -- at least to the minds of administrators and fans -- is the comfort Nebraska enjoys in the Big Ten, where the future of the conference has never been in doubt.
Omaha? Wow, I seriously had forgotten that. I hear what you're saying. Truly it's not bitterness for me. It's more apathy. I still buy my season tickets, donate to the program, etc. but I just don't care that much any more. Your mileage may vary.
That's what happens after seven years of Bo. You just become apathetic. You expect nine wins, but also blowout losses, bitter press conferences, embarrassing sideline antics, poor adjustments, blaming the fans... it's a death spiral. We start to believe the mantra that you can't recruit to the plains. As we drop below Top 25 we start to feel our detractors as they tell us we're has beens, living in the past. It's not the conference. We had fallen to second tier status. No longer were we top dogs. Kentucky basketball wouldn't put up with mediocrity. Now, we couldn't fire a 9-win coach because look what happened last time we did that. So, year after year we knew the results before we even played a single game. That's how you stop caring. Apathy creeps in. If you actually cared you'd be losing your freakin' mind during the season.
Anyone who says they want to go back are probably one of those people that break up with a chick a thousand times and get back together just for the drama of it. Personally, I hate drama and so happy we don't have to deal with it anymore.
Read this retrospective and tell me you still want to go back:
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/...cle_2cc6f044-0fe1-11e5-b86b-335d8975719f.html
Read this retrospective and tell me you still want to go back:
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/...cle_2cc6f044-0fe1-11e5-b86b-335d8975719f.html
I tried to say something similar, but you conveyed this message way better than I did!
What's ironic about this whole Big XII pining is that Bo might have been fired sooner if we had stayed in the Big XII. Imagine Baylor and TCU running up the score against us. KSU might have gotten a couple more wins against us. Mizzou and A&M would've been formidable had they stayed. Bo had trouble stopping QBs who could run and potent rushing games. But hey, we would have had nostalgia and tradition!
I agree with more or less everything you said here. I typically find it funny when it does happen and don't really get offended. My post was in response to the poster who said he considered the culture of Nebraska as more "Midwestern and Southern" and that he didn't have much in common with other members of the B1G. I should have more succinctly said that even if he personally associated Nebraska with a southern culture, many (maybe most) southerners wouldn't agree with that association. Whereas, I doubt if many people living in a place like Indiana would consider their culture that much different than that of Nebraska.
In my opinion, Nebraska is a better fit in the B1G. And at this point, as others have said, going back now would be lunacy. The "One True Champion" debacle is a microcosm of how that conference is being run. The existential and financial stability of the B1G is worth more than renewing any old rivalries.
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Yeah, if we're going with the culture argument, then Nebraska fits in with other flyover states like the Dakotas, Wyoming, most of Iowa, Kansas, and parts of Missouri. Texas and southern states are much different culturally versus Nebraska.
In regards to this whole debate:
Those who are greatly informed about the politics of big time college football seem to side with the fact that Nebraska to the Big Ten is a great move. The Big XII simply is a league awaiting implosion. However, those who don't get into the ins and outs of conference stability, TV packages, distribution of conference monies, etc. seem to base their opinion on the kinds of teams the Huskers play...and often will side with those teams with whom there is some history/rivalry.
Right now we have seen a whole lot of crap come into Lincoln in the recent past. A couple years back we saw a good MSU team and a couple years before that we played decent Wisky team. None of the teams in our division have any flash to them. Yes, we have sucked it up too. But put the '95 Cornhuskers out there and people would still talk about the play of this horrendous conference.
With all of that said, there is some hope...particularly on the other side. MU, MSU, OSU, and Penn State will be forces in the coming years. Hopefully the cross-over games (and even a few championship games) will help change our feel for this conference.
Those who are greatly informed about the politics of big time college football seem to side with the fact that Nebraska to the Big Ten is a great move. The Big XII simply is a league awaiting implosion. However, those who don't get into the ins and outs of conference stability, TV packages, distribution of conference monies, etc. seem to base their opinion on the kinds of teams the Huskers play...and often will side with those teams with whom there is some history/rivalry.
Right now we have seen a whole lot of crap come into Lincoln in the recent past. A couple years back we saw a good MSU team and a couple years before that we played decent Wisky team. None of the teams in our division have any flash to them. Yes, we have sucked it up too. But put the '95 Cornhuskers out there and people would still talk about the play of this horrendous conference.
With all of that said, there is some hope...particularly on the other side. MU, MSU, OSU, and Penn State will be forces in the coming years. Hopefully the cross-over games (and even a few championship games) will help change our feel for this conference.
The Big 12 is toast. The problem is, them being weak and incompetent directly effects us. I don't want anymore expansion. At least not right now. But when the chips starting falling, we have to go big and try to get OU and UT. I do not want them in the slightest as they are really not a good cultural fit, but if we have to expand again, get the best football programs out there. There is this feeling that the SEC and PAC are going to slice up the Big 12 for the good programs and the BIG 10 is going to add middle of the road ACC teams and Big 12 teams. No way. We go big or we go home.
I just don't understand where everyone is coming from when they say the Big 12 is done, or toast, or will implode. As long as Texas and OU stay, and I think they will, they aren't going anywhere. I have to wonder if some people are still bitter about the divorce, and are hoping so badly that they implode, they start to believe it's real? IDK, it's just a thought. I think some people are so offended that they let us walk out the door without so much as a gold watch for our time there, a lot of fans still feel slighted from the split.
As long as Texas and OU stay, lol. Its never good when your conference falls squarely on the shoulders of Texas. They only care about one thing, and it isn't the Big 12.
The Big 12 leadership is so bad, it kept them out of the playoff.
"Toast" may not be the appropriate term. After all, the members schools have to play somebody. But their situation is hardly stable. As you say, "as long as Texas and OU stay" the Big XII is fine. But as long as we keep hearing discontent and rumblings and rumors about expansion, and as long as OU and Texas are still rumored in those discussions, the future of the Big XII will constantly be in flux. How can KSU, ISU, or TTU feel even the least bit secure in their long term situation? And that uncertainty is not going to sell well when it comes time to negotiate media contracts. The conference may not be "toast." But will it be economically competitive in a decade? I don't believe that names like Huston or UConn would be tossed around, and coaches openly commenting about expansion, if the member schools believed that they had a model for long term success.
Texas & Nebraska....natural born enemies/rivals, plus restart the OU yearly game and I'd consider it.
When it comes right down to it, every school only cares about themselves. Why did we leave? Because it was the best move for us at the time. Texas is a different animal though, that entire conference should be called the Texas invitational. They aren't going anywhere, so the Big 12 will be fine. Way to many people are using one years results, last year, as the reason they must expand. There are other options, like upgrading your OOC schedule. Plus, you never know...Arkansas just might pick up the phone some day...things change. For now, the Big 12 is fine, they aren't going anywhere.
I don't think your situation or UT's situation has a lot in common with the old BIG 10 schools. Our strength as a conference came and comes from the fact that we are all on the same page, and we do whats best for us as a conference. Now sure, there is some self interest under the banner, but not where we would ever create a situation like the Big 12 had. Lots of years of respect with school Presidents leading the charge. Not the ADs.
The Big 12, without expanding with 2 more teams, is a sitting duck.
Boren just said Big 12 is at a disadvantage except Texas. They can't get any major programs to join therefore they will leave. Looks bad when Perdue and Vanderbilt will be bringing in more revenue than the likes of OU and Notre Dame. For Boren to stand back and watch how NU Missouri A & M will be out distancing OU revenue wise has him pissed and admitting they made a mistake staying with Texas.
It perplexes me why this idea of Arkansas joining the Big 12 sticks around. Seriously, I don't get it. There is zero, yes I mean zero chance that happens and it would make zero sense. They left the old SWC to get away from Texas and because the SEC was better. The SEC is even better now than it was when they left and why would they go back to a Texas-dominated conference? Take it from somebody who lived there during the beginning of their SEC days. They LOVE the SEC. they still love the SEC. When I lived there, I heard more SEC propaganda from Arkansas fans than any other SEC school. They fit culturally in the SEC much better than they would in the Big 12. There is just absolutely no reason whatsoever why they would leave. None. And yet for some unknown reason, people keep the idea out there. Forget it. It isn't happening. Period.
There isn't anyone left to add. I can't believe that they seem to be fighting hard to get Houston. Does the University of Houston really turn on that many TVs? I checked out Wiki of last year's team, and their largest crowd was 40,000 for a home game, and they got smoked 7-27. I'm sure joining the Big XII will help that. If you're going to go after Houston, then why not Colorado State or Boise? I would even think about SMU before Houston.
That is the thing. I think they think more of themselves than everyone else does. Is adding BYU and BSU sexy? No, of course not and that is why they don't want them or want to expand. Now, if you add them, they create stability and a CCG. You aren't adding them because they are huge programs that will move the needle. You are adding them out of necessity. The delusion of some of the Big 12 posters is amazing. I have seen some suggest they approach Iowa and Nebraska for membership. Are they on crack?
I agree. The Big XII couldn't possibly offer enough to lure away an SEC or B1G school. Leads to a question though. What COULD they do to lure a team away from another major conference? This might be for another thread, but if your the Big XII what do you say to an Arkansas, Iowa or NU to try and get them on board? You may lose Texas b/c of the Longhorn Network. But is losing Texas worth it if you add maybe an NU and an Arkansas AND possibly a network? They already have a footprint there with TCU and Baylor. I've clearly been in the office too long...must go home and crack cold beer...
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I would go on the buddy system with Nebraska to the PAC, if some major conference expansion happened where the BIG and PAC basically merged and so did the ACC and SEC, but to the Big 12........
......NO.
......NO.
