And the first Big Ten expansion domino falls. Probably. Nebraska is supposed to officially be joining the Midwest power conference by Friday. This news we receive from Lee Barfknecht (yes, I know that’s a very unfortunate looking last name) of the Omaha World-Herald.
If you’re unfamiliar with the World-Herald, it’s the primary daily newspaper of Nebraska, as well as portions of southwest Iowa and the largest employee-owned newspaper in the United States.
Barfknecht is a sports reporter/columnist for the World-Herald and author of the World-Herald’s immensely popular Cornhuskers’ blog Big Red Today.
By Paul M. Banks
So if his inside sources are confirming it, this is indeed not a drill.
Barfknecht writes:
An executive at a Big 12 school relayed to The World-Herald on Tuesday that he expects Nebraska to become a member of the Big Ten as early as Friday…Direct confirmation from Nebraska of a conference change for the Huskers wasn’t immediately available. Sources at two other Big 12 schools told The World-Herald that their athletic directors have instructed them to be ready by week’s end for a briefing on probable Big 12 changes.
So there you go, it appears we have the Cornhusker answer to the ultimatum bestowed upon the program by the Big 12 conference. It was widely reported earlier this week that Missouri and Nebraska were instructed to make a decision about whether they would remain within the Big 12 or not by 5pm Friday. Of course, it was also reported that the deadline could be extended to June 15th.
And we all heard about the Pac 10 offering an invitation to Big 12 conference schools Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Colorado, Oklahoma and Oklahoma St. Therefore, this whole conference expansion game is being played at a much faster pace now. And it appears the Big 12 conference (wait I’ll use Roman numerals now since it will soon become ancient history), the Big XII conference will soon go the way of the Dodo bird.
And the Big Ten will instantly become a much better and more competitive football conference. Even more so if Mizzou and Notre Dame accept their “rumored” invitations.
And that’s a very good thing, I’m SO TIRED of picking Ohio State to win the league every August.