The pace of speculation about Big Ten expansion has accelerated, and actual news stories with quoted sources are starting to appear in newspapers of record.
The most recent stories are reporting that we may learn as early as Friday that (wait for it, now) Nebraska may leave the Big 12 and be the first addition to the Big Ten since Penn State joined more than a decade ago. At least, the Omaha World-Herald, among other newspapers, is reporting as much.
If the Nebraska scuttlebutt is true — and we’ll find out soon enough — it would be an interesting choice that is contrary to a lot of the conventional wisdom. No doubt Nebraska is a fine academic institution, and of course its football program has a fantastic tradition, but it doesn’t bring either the metropolitan TV markets or the southern growth areas that some had speculated were the goal of Big Ten expansion. It would, however, bring another mascot with an enormous head into the Big Ten conference, to keep Sparty and the Boilermaker guy company.
Webner House 