Nebraska confirms it will leave Big 12 for Big Ten

One of the biggest dominoes in college football fell Friday afternoon when the University of Nebraska Board of Regents unanimously approved a move from the Big 12 to the Big Ten Conference. The Cornhuskers become the 12th member of the Big Ten, and chancellor Harvey Perlman said they hope to begin competing with their new partners in the 2011-12 school year after just one more season in the Big 12.

Athletic director Tom Osborne portrayed the move as one meant to ensure the stability of Nebraska's conference affiliation. "In athletics, when you see stability, you want to grab onto it," Osborne said before the vote was taken. "The stability of the Big Ten is something we can't ignore."

Osborne noted that the Big 12 schools that urged Nebraska to stay in that conference were talking "not just to one other conference, but to two and three other conferences at the same time they were urging us to stay."

Nebraska's decision followed by one day the announcement of Colorado's move to the Pac-10. Earlier Friday, Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference announced that it is moving to the Mountain West, which might add some members of the Big 12 if that conference implodes, which now appears imminent.

The board of regents at both Texas and Texas Tech have scheduled Tuesday phone conferences to discuss realignment. According to an ESPN report, those two schools plus Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are poised to jump to the Pac-10. Texas A & M is believed to be considering a move to the Southeastern Conference and reportedly has a 72-hour window in which to make its decision at about the same time.

Osborne said the loss of one or two schools doesn't break up a conference. "When six schools leave, it breaks a conference. We've dealt with only one conference, and we haven't tried to influence or coerce other schools to follow us. This decision has been arrived at independently."

That was a shot at the Big 12 South schools, including Baylor, which had hoped to take Colorado's place as part of the move to the Pac-10 but now is left to fend for itself with Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State. Missouri previously expressed interest in the Big Ten but hasn't received an invitation.

A Big 12 source told Newsday the conference board of university presidents and chancellors is expected to conduct a conference call late next week to determine the league's future. By the looks of things, it will be a farewell party.