Effective today, The University of Nebraska is the 12th member of the Big Ten. The Big Ten is the oldest of Division I athletic conference has seen very few changes in membership. Since Michigan rejoined the conference in 1916, the only changes have been the departure of the University of Chicago in 1946 and the additions of Michigan State in 1953, Penn State in 1992, and Nebraska in 2011.
I'm happy to have Nebraska as a member of the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers become the conference's fourth top shelf football program, and they are a good fit culturally. Academically, Nebraska recently was booted from the Association of American Universities, but as a flagship public university the school remains a good fit. I've had the opportunity to attend one of Nebraska's road games, and their fans conducted themselves very well. Think of them as the bizarro Ohio State. What will be strange is that it will be some time until IU develops much of a relationship with the Huskers in either football or men's basketball. IU's first meeting with the Cornhuskers in football will not come until 2015. In basketball, Nebraska is on IU's single game rotation for the next two seasons. In 2012, IU will play in Lincoln, but the Cornhuskers do not make their first visit to Bloomington until 2013.
As of today, Nebraska is in the Big Ten. The Big 12, more accurately Texas and Some Other Schools, has only 10 teams. The Pac-10 is now the Pac-12, with Colorado and Utah making the move. A little more than a year ago, a foundational realignment of college athletics seemed possible. That didn't happen (and that's for the better), but these moves will make for the biggest shift in conference alignment since the early and mid 1990s. Welcome aboard, Nebraska!