HuskersLive Comments

Here is what we have said before and after Husker Games - the good, the bad and the ugly. To see our most current comments go to the home page or "HuskersLive" tab.

Don't Tread On Me

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people of Husker Nation to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with Texas and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Football and of Nature’s Tom Osborne entitle them, a decent respect to the options of mankind requires that they should declare the causes of greed which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal even if they don’t live in Austin, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness away from arrogant Longhorns. — That to secure these rights, a move to the Big 10 must be made, deriving their just powers from disassociating themselves from the Texas bully, — That whenever any Form of Government by greedy Texas and their crazy King George III like behavior becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Huskers to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as the Big 10, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that the Big 10 long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all rest of the Big 12’s feeble members are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the chains that bind them to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right to man up like the Huskers, it is their duty, to throw off such tyrannical Texas leadership, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Cornhuskers; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of the Big 12 Government. The history of the present King of Austin is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these tornado alley States. To prove this, we cross the Missouri River to greener pastures on these Big 10 states.

The New Big 10 is 12

It is official now. Nebraska is part of the Big 10 and will start play in 2011. It is one year sooner than I thought it would be, but good for all parties. That means only one more round with the old Big Dysfunctional 12 and the drama for all of these games will be running high. The Huskers will run into a lot of angry teams and who can blame the ones that look to be hung out to die. The south teams in the Dysfunctional 12 minus Baylor and a question mark around A&M looks to be heading with Colorado to the Pac-10. I would guess the time table on these departures for playing games in their new conference would match NU’s and 2011 the new Pac-16 will start play. I will use some testimony from Mark McGwire on how I proceed in this article and that is, “I’m not here to talk about the past”. I’m going to talk about what I think the future holds for the Big 10.

The Big 10, now sits at 12, and still could expand in the next 6 to 12 months. I say they sit back and watch the sparks fly and hope Notre Dame feels the need to join a conference. If the Big East blows up and it certainly is a possibility, then perhaps Notre Dame finally bites the bullet and joins the Big 10 as a full member. This would obviously be a huge plus for the Big 10. Notre Dame doesn’t have the same appeal it once did, but still remains the crown jewel of college football. I can’t see the Big 10 making any more moves until ND feels the squeeze.

The establishment of the new Pac-16 will push the movement to 16 team super conferences, in my eyes. It makes sense that the Big East would be the next conference to implode and the ACC and SEC will be the conferences looking to go to 16. They could be swapping schools amongst them, like Miami and Florida State moving out of the ACC to the SEC. The east and southeast schools are a little harder to predict who will go where. The geography isn’t in play as much as it was in the Midwest and West coast moves. What is interesting is how quite the ACC and SEC have been about expansion. It could be this geography is keeping people from speculating and the rumors don’t gain as much traction. Whatever the reason, there doesn’t seem to be a sense of panic. However, the events of this week and with the Big 12 South looking to move west early next week, it could start the panic amongst the other conferences.

The other schools mentioned in Big 10 expansion certainly don’t have as much appeal as a Nebraska or ND and really just bring in TV viewers from big markets. I’ve read Rutgers, Maryland, Syracuse and Pittsburgh are some of the east coast schools being considered and none of those schools really bring much to the table for me and I would guess a lot of other Nebraska fans. Pittsburgh even with Steve Pederson back doesn’t really do it for me, but Penn State clearly wouldn’t mind having them on board.

It is time for the super conferences to start their engines. I say the Big 10 stays pat until the Big East starts to fall apart and gives Notre Dame one last push before they decide what other schools to bring on board. The madness is just around the corner, so grab a seat and remember seatbelts save lives.

Goodbye Big 12

It is looking more and more like the Huskers are headed to the Big 10 based off all the leaks coming out of various news agencies. I have to admit I’m a little more excited than when the rumors first started flying. The conference has really gone downhill of late in football, but perhaps the expansion can light a fire under it. Most people don’t like change because you have uncertainty replacing a nice comfort zone. Like in life, you have to do what is best for yourself. Nebraska had to do something and this is the best option for the Huskers since the Big 12 seems to be facing the abyss or at least ruled by an evil dictator.

The way I like to picture this whole scenario is comparing it to the movie ‘A Christmas Story’. If you haven’t seen this movie, you can skip this paragraph. Playing the role of the bully is Texas and the little bully’s sidekick is the Big Twelve leadership. The bully has been doing what bullies do best with Ralphie (played by Nebraska) and all of his classmates. This treatment becomes tiresome to Ralphie and after a particularly bad day, he decides to fight back. It certainly doesn’t look like a smart move at the time, but low and behold Ralphie catches the bully off guard and actually ends up getting the best of him. It now looks like this bully has one less kid to push around and perhaps the other classmates will call into question their wilting to his power going forward.

The Longhorns have done their best job of painting Nebraska as the bad guy here and only time will tell who will get the blame for the Big 12’s breakup. You can see my article by clicking on the 'We Said It" tab for who I think should get the blame, but I’m guessing you know already. Texas can play this off however they want but I think they just created a worse situation for themselves regardless of where they end up. They won’t suffer one bit, but they could have continued pushing the Big 12 around for the foreseeable future if they just didn’t continue to rub everyone’s face in it.

The Big 10 certainly hasn’t had the best reputation of late when it comes to football, as I mentioned previously, but it certainly will look better simply by adding Nebraska and more could be coming. Notre Dame obviously would be a huge addition. Who wouldn’t want a shot at them every year or every couple depending on how this falls. There are some great campuses in this conference that would be fun to visit. I would have to think Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Detroit, St. Louis and New York (if an east coast school is added) would be potential locations for a Big 10 Championship Game. The top 4 bowl games the conference has ties to are Rose, Capital One, Outback and Gator Bowl. Those are some great bowl games and how fun would Nebraska in the Rose Bowl vs. a Texas or Oklahoma be.

The move is a lot more attractive than what I was thinking when this mess got started. Change is a little uncomfortable at first, but in the long run I think this change works out just fine. Now the snowball has started down the hill and we’ll see how big this baby gets. It will be fun to watch.

A Texas Size Mess

Well the foundation under the Big 12 is cracking like a 7.2 earthquake just rolled though. There are more earthquakes predicted in the near future too. As I am typing this, the Pac-10 is meeting and what comes out of that is unknown. The rumor is everyone in the Big 12 South minus Baylor and Colorado will be invited to play. The other rumor is Missouri and Nebraska are just waiting for the invite to the Big 10 dance. This certainly can’t sit well with the rest of the Big 12 universities that have not been mentioned in any of these realignments. Now it is unclear who really wants to go and who really wants to stay and I’ll leave that speculation up to you. I want to focus on how we got to this place and who can be blamed.

I will point the finger directly at Texas. You could say why in the world would Texas want to breakup this sweetheart deal they currently have in the Big 12. They by far pull in the most money in the current format, they run the Big 12 discussions on how the conference will change like a dictator and they are hard to recruit against in the athlete rich state of Texas. They certainly wouldn’t want to screw this up.

Well it is really simple, Texas has a god complex and some of the disciples are sick and tired of being mistreated. First off Texas is a great university and probably should have more pull in the Big 12 than any of the other members. They are national competitors in most of the sports they are involved in and the academics of the university are top notch. However, you need some checks and balances in place to try and keep the peace amongst the other members. The way Texas wants to run the Big 12 is by occupying all 3 branches of this conference’s government and it is not the best way to keep a smile on everyone’s face.

The biggest issue by far is money, it is of course the American way. The Big 12 television deal is not a good one especially when compared to the Big 10. The Big 10 Network has been a huge success and I would say most of the Big 12 universities wanted to try and put together a similar package for themselves. The problem was Texas wanted their own network and put a veto on that bill. This could have been the answer to a lot of the money issues had Texas simply gone along with it and I’m sure they would have got another sweetheart deal after the package was put together. Texas wanted to pursue it alone, so no Big 12 Network.

Texas also has been mentioned in expansion with the Pac 10, Big 10 and SEC. Now any conference would love to have Texas in it so for them to come up in rumors is perhaps not a big deal. However, when their name is consistently mentioned in moves I would think it is only natural for other universities to look at what kind of options they have if this conference starts to breakup. Texas seems like it wants to use these rumored moves as a power play when they already have the best hand by a long shot. When these rumors come up, Texas should be shooting them down with authority. They may have just power played their way into a worse hand.

Another finger has to be pointed at the Big 12 leadership. The Big 12 is a premier conference so they need to act like it. I certainly don’t think it is the best conference when it comes to athletics and academics combined, but chopped liver it is not. The minute the rumors of schools leaving starts up, you combat it with rumors the Big 12 is thinking of expanding. They should leak they are thinking of adding Arizona, Arizona State, BYU and Utah. You could say we are thinking Colorado State, Arkansas, Mississippi and Mississippi State. One thing you don’t do is sit on your hands and start to blame others inside the conference. The 11 disciples already have an inferiority complex and now you start pointing fingers at one another. It is no wonder everyone wants to get out of this bad relationship the way they have been treated.

The conference is in trouble and I think we will definitely have some clarity by the time the 2010 college football season gets under way. The pieces might not all be in place by then, but some of the fog will have lifted. Texas certainly doesn’t get all of the blame because there is plenty to go around, but I think they clearly started the wheels in motion by over playing their hand. They won’t get left out in the cold by any stretch of the imagination; it is just beyond me why they kicked themselves out of Zeus’s seat on Mount Olympus.

Nebraska to the Big 10?

If they are truly asked to join the Big 10, then I have to think NU jumps ship and join that bad 10 football conference. There is obviously something big just around the corner and, as usual, it is money running the show. The Big 12 is in a bad contract for football when compared to the Big 10 and SEC. The Big 12’s revenue sharing is heavily pouring into the southern part of the conference and let’s face it Texas has taken over this conference since they were invited in. One could argue that Nebraska took it in the shorts the most of any of the old Big 8 schools when the Texas schools were added. Nebraska also had its series with main rival Oklahoma diminished to just another game on the schedule. It was once one of the few Thanksgiving weekend must watch events. Nebraska was once the co-big dog on campus and is now reduced to a second tier player in the current Big 12.

Nebraska certainly has enough reasons to leave for greener pastures but this is the first time NU has come up in conference expansion talks. There has always been talk of Missouri leaving for the Big 10 and Colorado flying off to the Pac 10 and in some ways we could say good riddance and no one would care. Nebraska however is a new name to be mentioned in these talks and if there ever was a time to leave this conference it is probably now.

The Pac-10 and Big 12 have also been talking about scheduling games between them, but the structure of how this would work is not real clear. The Pac-10 schools would certainly have more weather appeal than what the Big 10 can offer, but how you setup games with the current 22 members of both conferences isn’t known. The matchups between the Pac 10 and Big 12 have a lot more appeal to national audiences. The games would be much more exciting to the fans of the teams as well. Is it really a better deal for Nebraska though?

The Pac-10 doesn’t have the passionate for football that the Big 10, Big 12 & SEC have by a long shot. The programs can pack the stadiums when they are winning, but you throw in a few lean years at most of the Pac-10 schools and fans stop coming and more importantly stop watching the games on TV. This is bad news when it comes to renegotiating contracts. This also doesn’t solve the revenue sharing with Texas either. Again it is hard to get into this scenario without even knowing what the ideas tossed around were, but Nebraska certainly is going to have a better tier position if you throw in a USC, UCLA, Washington and a few others with the money they have.

If you throw the Huskers in the Big 10, they are at least one of the top names in the conference when it comes to football. They may not have any more pull than they have in the Big 12, and perhaps even less being a newcomer, but they will share revenues equally with everyone else in the conference. It would be a big increase to what they are pulling in now. It just seems a better fit for NU to go this direction if the Big 12 is going to fall apart.

The Big 10 isn’t the prettiest girl at the dance, but that fact that her daddy has pockets full of money sure makes her look a lot prettier.

Let The Offensive Overexcitement Begin

It seems like forever since the Huskers shutout the Arizona Wildcats, but spring has arrived and with it comes the Huskers 2010 Spring Game. These games really just get the blood flowing again for football. You couldn’t really call them an appetizer because the wait before the main course is way too long, so I will settle for blood flowing.

I expect one thing for sure to come out of this game and that is the quarterback position will look fantastic for the upcoming 2010 season. The Huskers should have at least 3 legit big time Big 12 All-Conference QBs to select from. So as the title of this article suggests, let the overexcitement begin.

This game will tell us very little about our offense or defense, but I know the defense isn’t really on the minds of most Husker fans. The offense was a couple notches below bad last year, but hopefully learned something in that Holiday Bowl against Arizona. They should have learned that misdirection can work. The ‘wildcat’ looked great and I would hope it continues to make appearances here and there throughout the year. When your quarterback is struggling, a little defense uncertainty can open some things up.

I will have my predictions for the season up a few weeks before the first game, but I would expect about the same type of record we had last year or slightly better. Go Big Red!