Greatest Husker to wear 4: Lavonte David, Linebacker, 2010-2011
From Nebraska's perspective, the Big 12 never quite felt right.
Yes, all of Nebraska's longtime rivals from the Big Eight were there. And thanks to the four Texas schools, there was more TV money than ever before. But Nebraska was repeatedly on the wrong end of 11-1 votes as schools either fell in line behind Texas or tried to break up the Nebraska dynasty that existed when the conference was first formed in 1996.*
*Nebraska won its second straight national championship in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl with a blowout of Florida. The game cemented the 1995 Huskers as the greatest team in the history of the sport, and enhanced Tom Osborne's resume as one of the all-time great coaches.
In the postgame press conference, Osborne used the opportunity to criticize the Big 12's stance on partial qualifiers - a position he felt was unfair toward NU.
Osborne was right. K-State's president later bragged in his book about how the vote was designed to slow Nebraska down.
Instead of the Big Eight taking on four schools from the floundering Southwest Conference, the new league felt more like a Texas takeover. The league offices were moved to Irving, Texas. Instead of rotating the Big 12 Championship game between north and south locations, it was permanently placed at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The divisional split meant Nebraska and Oklahoma - one of the great rivalries in the sport - would only happen two out of every four years.
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009
The ending of the 2009 Big 12 Championship game - where one second was added back onto the clock before Texas kicked a field goal to go to the BCS Championship game - certainly did not help dispel the belief that the league was set up to favor Texas.
With Nebraska leading 12-10 with seconds to go, Ndamukong Suh pressured Colt McCoy into a quick throw. McCoy's pass landed out of bounds as the clock appeared to expire. With Texas coach Mack Brown holding up one finger, the previous play was reviewed. It was determined that one second would be added to the clock. Texas kicked a field goal, keeping the Longhorns' national championship hopes alive.
Spring/summer 2010
This was a truly wild time in college athletics. Word was out that the Big Ten and Pac-10 were looking to expand. Rumors swirled daily on who might go where.
The University of Missouri openly campaigned to join the Big Ten. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said MU was "deserving" of a Big Ten invite, due to the school's academic prestige and two large TV markets (Kansas City and St. Louis).
Colorado flirted with the Pac-10. Texas allegedly tried to broker a deal to go west with Texas Tech and the two Oklahoma schools.
It was an extremely uncertain time. Nobody - not even Chip Brown of Texas fan site Orangebloods.com - knew where the original members of the Big 12 would end up when the realignment carousel stopped spinning. The only consensus was that the Big 12 was likely to dissolve. It was every man for himself as schools scrambled for a lifeboat.
Why was the Big 12 - a power conference with several prestigious members - taking on water? In short, there were three reasons, which all fed into each other.
Leadership - or a lack thereof - which meant…
Member schools focused on their best interests, not the collective good. Not surprisingly, the schools' best interests were often motivated by…
Greed. College athletics was in an arms race, and having more revenue created more opportunities.
Dan Beebe was the Big 12's commissioner. He was widely viewed as a weak leader whose main priority was keeping the biggest member - the University of Texas - happy. As for the Longhorns, their focus was making as much money as possible - preferably without having to share it with anybody else.
Revenue sharing in the Big 12 was uneven. Schools that were on TV a lot (Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska) got more revenue than those whose appearances were less frequent (Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Baylor). It is worth noting that Nebraska did not have a problem with this arrangement.
The rights of so-called "tier 3" Olympic sports were another sticking point. The individual schools owned them, but if they pooled them, the league could potentially create its own network. Kevin Weinberg (the Big 12's commissioner from 1998-2007) wanted the Big 12 to be the first conference with its own network. However, the motion failed on an 11-1 vote, with Texas as the lone vote in favor. Weinberg later resigned from the Big 12 to join the Big Ten, where he helped launch the Big Ten Network. Texas would eventually decide to go it alone and create the Longhorn Network (in association with ESPN).
Sunday, June 6, 2010
After weeks of constant speculation, anonymous sources, and debating TV markets and academic clout, everything came to a head at the Big 12's annual meetings in June 2010. Beebe issued an ultimatum to Nebraska's leadership (UNL chancellor Harvey Perlman and athletic director Tom Osborne), as well as Missouri: Pledge your loyalty to the Big 12 by 5 p.m. Friday.*
*You will note that no such request was made of Texas or any other school.
By the way… what exactly would Beebe had done if Nebraska had refused? If he kicked NU out, he would have created the chasm he and the rest of the league did not want, potentially starting a chain reaction that would destroy the conference.
Dan Beebe doesn't strike me as much of a chess player.
The next few days were filled with tension, hourly rumors, and fanbases going back and forth on who was to blame.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The University of Colorado announced it was leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-10. The first domino had fallen.
At the time, the belief was that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would join Colorado. Kansas had discussions with the Big East and Mountain West, and so on.
Friday, June 11, 2010
With Beebe's "deadline" looming, Perlman and Osborne moved quickly. Nebraska - with the blessing of the NU Board of Regents - applied for membership in the Big Ten Conference. The Big Ten voted unanimously to accept Nebraska's application as the 12th member of the prestigious league.
The move was formally announced in an afternoon press conference.
The comments by Osborne and Perlman were clear that they did what they felt was in the best interest of the University of Nebraska - academically and athletically.
Perlman said NU was more "aligned" with the Big Ten than the Big 12 in terms of academics, athletics and culture. Furthermore, the Big Ten provides "stability that the Big 12 simply cannot offer." Osborne said the decision was made for "the long-term trajectory of the athletic program and the university."*
*With the Big Ten, Nebraska would gain an extra $15 million a year in TV revenue. It took some time for the financial windfall to hit - NU didn't receive a full share until 2017 - but the league's annual payout is the best in college sports.
Additionally, the Big Ten - a premier academic conference - would provide additional prestige and research options for the University through the renowned Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium of the Big Ten universities.
Nebraska's leadership also rejected any notion that NU was going to be responsible for the potential collapse of the conference. "One school leaving a conference does not destroy a conference," Perlman said. "Nebraska did not start this discussion."
Osborne agreed. "As we read the tea leaves and listened to the conversations, some of the schools that were urging us to stay, we found some of them had talked to not only one other conference or two but even three, and those were the same ones urging us to stay," he said.
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010
Nebraska's final season in the Big 12 began with a nationally televised game at Kansas State. Like every conference opponent NU would face, the Wildcats wanted to give the Huskers a painful loss on their way out the door.
Freshman phenom quarterback Taylor Martinez stole the show on offense, with 369 yards of total offense (including 241 on the ground) and five total touchdowns.
But on defense, the star was Lavonte David, a JUCO transfer linebacker originally from Miami. David had 16 tackles, including two for loss and a sack. He and the Blackshirts held K-State's vaunted running back Daniel Thomas to 63 yards on 22 carries.
In the 48-13 win, Nebraska made a statement. We intend to go out on top.
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010
It was a rematch of the Big 12 Championship Game with Texas, dubbed "Red Out Around the World." Fans were convinced the No. 5 Huskers would exact revenge and get the last laugh.
Welp.
The offense struggled, fumbling the ball, dropping passes and scoring just six points. David had 10 more tackles as the Blackshirts did everything they could to keep NU in the game.
Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010
The No. 9 Huskers traveled to College Station to face No. 18 Texas A&M. It would become one of the most controversial games in school history.
The Huskers were flagged SIXTEEN times for 145 yards. The Aggies were penalized twice for 10 yards. Bo Pelini's teams could sometimes be undisciplined, but several of the flags were, at best, questionable. Many fans believe the officials - acting on orders from the Big 12 offices - had it in for Nebraska.
Later, Beebe would address the "conspiracy theory." His comments didn't exactly sooth Husker fears. "If there were a conspiracy, and if officials were involved, it would be easy to have a team lose just about every game possible. That's a silly notion. Fans don't always think through things clearly. They have emotions on their sleeve."
Lavonte David had a team-high 14 tackles - including four for loss - and a sack in Nebraska's frustrating 9-6 loss. His efforts were overshadowed by the on- and off-field drama.
Friday, Nov. 26, 2010
Nebraska clinched the Big 12 North title with a 45-17 win over Colorado. However, nobody from the league office was on hand to award the trophy to Nebraska. Beebe said it was precautionary because a few of the nearly 2,000 emails he received from Husker fans following the A&M loss contained threats.
Lavonte David had "only" eight tackles.
Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010
Fittingly, Nebraska's final game as a member of the Big 12 Conference was against Oklahoma in the championship game. Given the history between the two teams, the outcome - a disappointing 23-20 loss - was also fitting.
David had 17 tackles, including 11 solo stops. He would set a school record for tackles in a season (152), breaking Barrett Ruud's record. David was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-American.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Nebraska officially became a member of the Big Ten.
I'd love to say it's been a perfect relationship, but that's not how long-term marriages work. But make no mistake - Nebraska is not going anywhere. Between the money (over $63 million in revenue per school in 2024) and the academic boost, it would be absolutely foolish for NU to leave.
As for the Big 12, it did not fall apart. In the end, five schools (Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri) all of whom which have been on the outside looking in if the Big 12 had folded, agreed to give their shares of the exit fees paid by Colorado and NU to the schools (led by Texas) that had been flirting with the Pac-10.
Texas has since left the Big 12 for the riches of the SEC.
