Nebraska clinched its second consecutive Big 12 North title on Friday with a decisive 45-17 win over Colorado, but there was no Big 12 North trophy to collect after the game.
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
“They didn’t think it would be safe to send somebody up,” Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said, referencing some “nasty” e-mails the Big 12 said it had received from Nebraska fans. “That’s the word I got.”
Osborne added: “You can call [Big 12 commissioner Dan] Beebe and ask him.”
Obviously, this is pretty poor form from the Big 12, but if they legitimately feared for their safety, you can't be too hard on them. Some will suggest that's up for debate. What's certain is this latest move will do nothing but fan the already red-hot fires emanating from Nebraska in the direction of the Big 12 offices after last week's officiating fiasco.
That said, rest assured, Nebraska will get its trophy eventually. In 2008, with the division still in flux on the season's penultimate week, Big 12 officials surprised Missouri with the trophy during a practice the following week.
I'd expect a similar move from the Big 12 this time around.
The announcer at the game said that there would be a presentation at the end of the game. When the presentation didn't happen, they showed a short video and shot off fireworks.
After a week of receiving threatening messages, including death threats, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe didn’t want a member of his staff attending the game.
“The decision was to be safe,” Beebe said. “It probably wasn’t a good idea to be there.”
Beebe said he has received more than 2,000 “vulgar and nasty” e-mails and voice-mail messages from Nebraska fans who have been upset at what they’ve perceived as unfair decisions by the conference office with a suspension and officiating decisions against the Cornhuskers.
Some of the messages have included threats to Beebe, his family and Big 12 staff members.
“I’m a big boy, I can take this, but our staff doesn’t deserve the vulgarity and the nastiness aimed at them,” Beebe said.
Beebe said he received a message from a person impersonating a police officer who said “they had my daughter, who is in college, and she was unresponsive.”
There also was a death threat.
“We had a threat talking about you’re going to die and your family is going to die in your house,” Beebe said. “You have to start taking it seriously. All it takes is one crackpot.”
I'm thinking your li'l presentation was held up because the XII had to do a wait-'n-see before casting the words "North Co-Champions" into the acryllic before they could present it. Still, a whole buncha ado about nuthin'....
Journalism Scholar Emeritus Screw_Marcus wrote:Oh OK, so what's legal and what's not determines if something is right or not?
Oh really? They had to wait to see if you guys tied? Then why did Missouri get their trophy on November 21st before the 2008 KU game? After all, NU tied for the Co-champs that year, too. Answer: The team that has the tie breaker goes to the game and gets the trophy.
I suppose being half right is plus one in your world, Large.
Yes, you get the game. But you get to share the North title as well. Tell me you knew.
Pity. I'm sure Outright North Champion would've had such a nice ring to it as you proudly carried it to the Ten...
:P
*Edit: Per Wiki: Note: While the team playing in the championship game is popularly regarded as the divisional champion, the Big 12 does officially recognize co-champions in football, just like it does in other sports. As a result, the following teams are also recognized as champions by the Big 12:
North Co-Champions: Kansas State (1999), Nebraska (2000, 2001), Iowa State (2004), Kansas (2007), Nebraska (2008)
South Co-Champions: Texas (2002), Texas (2008), Texas Tech (2008)
Journalism Scholar Emeritus Screw_Marcus wrote:Oh OK, so what's legal and what's not determines if something is right or not?
I did know that you'd share in the title if you won.
The point of the article was that the Big 12 decided not to come to give us the trophy because they were scared we had torches and pitchforks ready when Beebe showed up.
I don't know why the Big 12 does the Co-champion thing. There are only 6 teams per division. Does this mean that OU, OKST and ATM are all co-champs of the south? Stupid.
I guess you won't have to worry about that next year.
At Large wrote:I don't know why the Big 12 does the Co-champion thing. There are only 6 teams per division. Does this mean that OU, OKST and ATM are all co-champs of the south? Stupid.
I guess you won't have to worry about that next year.
Ask Texas about that.
I bet A&M can pick up a real nice asterisk from 'em. Probably get it half-price.
Exactely! Just another reason I hate Tejas. Nice adjustment to the Big 12 formula for co-champions, btw Beebe. It's good to see you bleed burnt orange. Too bad it won't help the Big 12 South cellar-dwellers this year.
Believe the Heupel wrote:I just think it's fucking hilarious that no matter how much the Big 12 and the BCS tweak the formula because they're pissed OU gets there, OU keeps getting there.
Yep! and here's to continued success by OU (after this year) despite the blatant formula manipulations.
