Nebraska Big Ten: Will Cornhuskers Blaze Trail for Pac-10 Expansion?

That distant sound of crumbling you hear may be the Big 12 conference being torn asunder.

With rumors flying about the Cornhuskers' possible entrance into the conference that is now known as the Big Ten, still other speculation has the Pac-10 casting a covetous eye to the teams Nebraska leaves behind.

According to an article by Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times, the Pac-10 is looking to extend invitations to Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State to join the Pac-10 and create a new super conference, likely known as the “Pac-16.”

Another scenario, according to Dufresne, has the Pac-10, if unsuccessful in wooing those six, inviting Colorado and adding another team.

Speculation has that mystery team being Utah.

If the Pac-10 does indeed find itself bringing over the cream of the Big 12 crop and all six teams make the exodus, the new conference alignment will mix a bit of the old with a dash of the new according to Dufresne.

The new?

The conference would be aligned in two divisions, with Arizona and Arizona State joining the new arrivals to form one division of the conference.

The old?

This is where it gets fun for the fans of old school college football in the west.

If both of the Arizona schools do realign to form the new division, it will create a division that features the members of the old “Pac-8” conference.

Born in 1964, when Oregon and Oregon State joined the “Big Six” (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, and the two Washington schools) members of the Athletic Associations of Western Universities (AAWU), the Pac-8 remained intact until 1978 when the Arizona schools joined to form the Pac-10.

So it appears the newer things get, the older they remain.

Of course, the formation of this new super conference will mean that, unlike the old days, there will be inter-conference games in this expanded version and new rivalries will be borne.

But it also means something else.

If this expansion, against all odds, does take place, there will be a new conference sheriff on the landscape of college football.

Move over, SEC, and meet the new “toughest college football conference in all of the land."

For the past few years, the power rankings, such as they are, have featured Southeastern Conference football.

And for the most part, those rankings were right.

But if this “Pac-16” thing happens, immediately it becomes the new bully on the block.

Make no mistake about it, any conference that features USC, Texas, and Oklahoma becomes the new poster child for the most powerful conference in the land.

Not that the SEC honks won’t argue…after all, that’s what they do.

But what if the Pac-10 conference is unsuccessful in this endeavor to add six teams?

Why add two, especially when one of those schools, Colorado, has just been identified as the only school in the country to lose scholarships because they didn’t meet the minimum APR grade requirements as set forth by the NCAA?

Well, the immediate benefit is that in order to have a conference championship game, which enormously benefits the coffers of all of the schools involved, it turns out you need at least six schools in each division.

Which brings us back to the Big Ten and Nebraska.

According to multiple sources, including bloggers at ESPN, we should know by Friday if the Cornhuskers will indeed be leaving the Big 12 conference for the Big Ten.

If Nebraska leads the way, there may be many teams to follow, and if they do, the face of college football changes forever.

If the Nebraska domino falls, a chain of events may lead to conference realignments throughout the nation, including those teams left over from the Big 12.

But it all starts with the Cornhuskers.

Like the old days when Nebraska ran the option, will the Cornhuskers exercise their option to leave their old conference?

Until this Friday, we wait with bated breath.

So does the Pac-10.