News - Nebraska in the Big 10

Now that the University of Nebraska in Lincoln is officially a part of the Big 10 conference, I thought it was high-time I started learning who my football team is going to be competing against beginning in the 2011 season. To be honest with you, I’m not a huge fan of college football, except where the Cornhuskers are concerned. I am familiar with the Big 12 schools only because those are the teams Nebraska has been playing against all my life. Before all this began, I don't think I could have named one school from the Big 10. But all that is going to change next year, so here is a list of Nebraska’s new opponents:

Iowa:
Iowa Hawkeyes; University of Iowa; Iowa City

Illinois:
Fighting Illini; University of Illinois, Champaign
Northwestern Wildcats; Northwestern University; Evanston
Chicago Maroons; University of Chicago; Chicago

Indiana:
Indiana Hoosiers; Indiana University; Bloomington
Purdue Boilermakers; Purdue University; West Lafayette

Michigan:
Michigan Wolverines; University of Michigan; Ann Arbor
Michigan State Spartans; Michigan State University; East Lansing

Minnesota:
Minnesota Golden Gophers; University of Minnesota; Minneapolis

Wisconsin:
Wisconsin Badgers; University of Wisconsin; Madison

Ohio:
Ohio State Buckeyes; Ohio State University; Columbus

Pennsylvania:
Penn State Nittany Lions; Pennsylvania State University; State College

Nebraska:
Nebraska Cornhuskers; University of Nebraska; Lincoln

Now, I know that Nebraska is the twelfth school in the Big 10, but as you can see from the list above, there are thirteen schools. There’s something here that I haven’t quite figured out yet and it has something to do with that University of Chicago. I’m thinking that school doesn’t play football because I've never heard of them before. I'll have to look into this further.

So that’s the Big 10 conference as it stands right now. It is very likely that the Big 10 will grab up a few more schools before they are done expanding, all the signs point toward a final total of sixteen schools. I know that Missouri is one possibility that has been discussed, and also Notre Dame. We'll just have to wait and see. Now that last Friday's critical mass has come and gone, further changes will probably take longer to come into focus. Nebraska’s decision would have come several months later if the Big 12 hadn't demanded an answer right away.

Football is the only sport I really care about so that is naturally what I focus on the most, but in all fairness I should mention that Nebraska's move to the Big 10 will benefit other sports as well. In his statement on Friday, Tom Osborne mentioned that the Big 10 will offer more competition for other sports. Osborne went on to explain that in the Big 12, only two schools compete in gymnastics, but in the Big 10 there are seven. He referenced similar examples for golf, wrestling, and swimming, just to name a few. This should provide better experiences for students who participate in those sports.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!