Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe hinted that part of the “process” to keep his conference from disintegrating was to get a commitment from the member schools sooner rather than later.
Apparently, and at least according to one report, that commitment will have to come much, much, much sooner than expected.
According to Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, both Nebraska and Missouri have been given a deadline/ultimatum: by “5 p.m. on Friday”, a source told the paper, the two schools have to inform the conference whether their intentions are to stay or go.
If the two schools do not comply with the deadline, the source said, the six schools mentioned in the Orangebloods.com report -- Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado -- would be likely to accept an expected invitation from the Pac-10.
So, because two schools -- only one of whom is all that important football-wise. Sorry, Mizzou -- would bolt the Big 12 -- or, at least, not give a commitment right now -- the other six would blow up the conference and leave in a hissy fit?
I’m not buying it. At all.
This seems like either a way to make Mizzou and Nebraska the scapegoats, so that the Itchy Six can leave for the Pac-10 with a “clear conscience” or to scare the two schools into making a commitment before the Big Ten is ready to extend an expected invitation.
Either way, it will be very interesting to hear how Nebraska, especially athletic director Tom Osborne, responds to this threat.