Being an alum of a Big East school watching the Big 12 on the verge of absolute destruction is kind of like watching a bomb explode. It’s kind of cool to see the carnage, but you aren’t protected like all those assholes safely in the bunkers (Big 11, SEC, Pac-10 and ACC).

Nebraska seems poised to tell the Big 12 to get bent, but is lacking one key thing.

The source said the school is leaning toward the Big Ten, but an invitation hadn’t yet been extended, and there was no indication when that would occur. The consensus within the athletic department is that Nebraska wouldn’t separate itself from the Big 12 without some assurance that a Big Ten invitation would come, the source said. The Big Ten has set no date for any announcement in the coming weeks, leaving open the possibility that Nebraska could be left in limbo.

Sources at two other Big 12 schools told the Omaha World-Herald that their athletic directors have instructed them to be ready by week’s end for a briefing on probable Big 12 changes.

It’s the fact that more than one school has athletic directors bracing for upheaval as early as the end of the week that has this with a certain sense of inevitability. They just need to know they have a golden ticket.

With Nebraska the apparent pin to the grenade for expansion carnage, it is time to give a golf clap to Texas for doing its best to make sure it does not look like the reason for Big 12 destruction.

Texas is not the villain here.

If anybody, it’s Nebraska and Missouri, because they’ve openly flirted with the Big Ten and made it clear they’d leave the Big 12 in an instant. Texas has steadfastly made it known it wants to preserve the status quo, and why shouldn’t it, when it rules the roost?

Maybe Texas could show good faith in the all-for-one department by agreeing to more equitable revenue sharing, but as one Big 12 athletic director told me, the other 11 schools agreed to this formula at the league’s inception, and it takes nine votes to change it.

Make no mistake, there is a bit of gamesmanship and PR stuff going on. The one thing that was taken away from ACC expansion in 2003, was the ham-handed way it was handled by the ACC and Miami. Their failure to be upfront about things early and not laying any groundwork for the reasons. From meeting with sympathetic media to explain their position, to letting the Big East be the ones to call them out. They let themselves be portrayed as greedy raiders intent on harming a conference and all those schools.

It made hash out of what could have been explained as simply as finding a good geographic and academic fit that provided more stability for their conference and more money to compete in the college sports landscape.

So you will have Nebraska partisans taking pains to paint Nebraska not as the one to destroy the Big 12 for any petty disputes with Texas, but because they have to do what is best for Nebraska in the long-term. Even if it means the end of the Big 12.

You wonder what goes through Osborne’s mind in the late stages of the current “game.” I’m guessing he’s not entirely comfortable with the whole dadgum money-driven situation. After all, this game’s about big-boy money. It’s about billion-dollar television contracts, one of the two major revenue streams left in college sports. Kill or be killed. Yep, that serious.

…

Meanwhile, Texas and its media chums hope to make Osborne the villain in this game, as the man whose next move could break up the Big 12 and set off the dominos. If looking out for your school’s best interests in an unstable climate makes you a villain, then put a black cowboy hat on Osborne and point the horse due east, because the Big Ten clearly represents the best destination for Nebraska.

At least one person sees plenty of blame to go around.

Jon Sundvold – former Missouri basketball star and NBA player, uber-respected TV commentator and financial wizard – got my vote as a stand-up guy Tuesday morning when he became one of the few folk in Columbia, Mo., to return a telephone call.

Sundvold knew the subject was college athletic expansion and that I wanted his thoughts on Missouri’s role in all of that. And he gave them. As an interested bystander, for sure, and not one of the decision makers.

But on that level I considered them worth sharing here:

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sundvold said. “Most of the people in Columbia have no idea. But it is the only thing they are talking about.

“If it blows up – if the Big 12 blows up – it should go on all their resumes. The presidents and the chancellors, if it doesn’t survive.

“It will be a phenominal failure on the parts of chancellors and presidents.”

You know there will be a lot of hindsight and revisionism about how this was inevitable for the Big 12’s break-up. I’m not sure I buy it. Unlike the Big East which has inherent conflicts between half the schools by the nature of their athletic emphasis or private versus public. Except for Baylor, the conference was all large, state universities

Yes, there were conflicts and issues integrating the remains of the SWC and Big 8, but nobody every made an effort on either side. Instead it was each side trying to exercise their power and control. Nebraska leading early, then Texas. Oklahoma played the middle to whichever side had power. No one worked to really make it better. And just as importantly, because the schools like Texas and Nebraska took turns trying to rule, both ended up working together to keep the conference leadership structure weaker. Weak leadership hurt on TV negotiations and dealing with egos.

That said, if you don’t think this break-up will get ugly and messy, then remember, an entire state is about to be eliminated from the BCS.

“This matters athletically,” [U.S. Rep. Jerry] Moran said, “but if there is a change in conference affiliation, that also has consequences to the universities — enrollment, prestige, those kinds of things. It matters to me a lot.”

U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, both K-State graduates, expressed similar sentiments in a joint statement Tuesday. Brownback, a Topeka Republican, is considered the odds-on favorite in the November governor’s race.

“We believe as charter members of the former Big Eight Conference and as current members of the Big 12 Conference, it is important Kansas State University, the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska continue to partner with the Big 12 Conference,” the statement read. “We remain hopeful the Nebraska Board of Regents will come to the same conclusion as the Kansas Board of Regents, that member institutions should join efforts to sustain and advance the Big 12.”

The outpouring of political support can be traced to fears that a Big 12 breakup would leave the state’s two flagship universities without a major-conference home.

The benefits of BCS affiliation are most evident in the world of athletics, but they extend to other areas of the university. K-State’s status in the Big 12 helped the university land the $650 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, and Big 12 affiliations contributed to the creation of the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor between Manhattan and Columbia, Mo.

“My impression is that the prestige brings fans and alumni together,” Moran said. “It brings private financial support from Kansans to our universities. It brings students who have an interest in watching athletics. From an academic side, it seems like (Big 12 schools) have a lot in common in terms of who our students are, what degrees they pursue.”

For those reasons, KU and K-State have a vested interest in preserving the Big 12. Moran said he spoke to K-State president Kirk Schulz and KU chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little earlier this week and pledged any support he could provide.

And don’t think Missouri politicians might not get involved if they suddenly find themselves in trouble — and they might. They seem like lesser players for the Big 11 now. Especially with yet more reports that ND and the Big 11 are talking.

Missouri has just assumed they were in for Big 11 expansion — whether 14 or 16. I admit, I thought as much myself. But with so many reports that ND might finally break, and Nebraska emerging as more desirable for the Big 11 they have a fear if the Big 11 stops at 14.

…given that supposedly the Big 12 is quickly kaput if Nebraska leaves, then Mizzou is also one step away from the Great Plains Division of the Mountain West Conference if the Big Ten decides we are not worthy of inclusion.  And in some ways, that’s not the end of the world.  We’d still be in a wonderful position for basketball — we’d likely be in a division with KU, KSU and Baylor at the very least — we’d be in position to win the Great Plains Division rather often, and … as I joked to The Beef on e-mail yesterday, wouldn’t it be so much more relaxing to be separated from Texas?

Of course, that was a joke.  In a world without a Big 12, clearly the Mountain West (which, in a BCS world, would likely qualify as a BCS conference, whatever it’s actually called) would be able to find a decent TV deal for football … but we’re talking lots of 11:30 Fox kickoffs, games on Versus, and untelevised road games.  Granted, that wouldn’t be much of a step down from the current situation … but it would absolutely be a step down.  And while Mizzou could continue to recruit the state of Texas … a) Texas is Pac-16 country now, and b) nobody’s really going to care about the Mountain West … at least not as much as the Pac-16, Big Ten and SEC.  Recruiting would likely suffer.

If ND does actually break, then I have to assume that the Big 11 will go to 14 and grab Rutgers to do everything to make sure it can claim NY/NJ when combined with ND.

For the best case scenario (for Pitt and Mizzou to get in the Big Something) it requires ND to spurn the conference affiliation once more. With the Pac-16 looming, the Big 11 makes the bold move to make up the changes with volume — both in terms of inventory for games and members — and goes all the way to 16 with Nebraska, Missouri, Rutgers, Syracuse and Pitt. That’s a big assumption, however.

In a way, if the Big 11 really wants to get Notre Dame, they have to commit to Nebraska. Delany has to make sure that he has the conference presidents ready to support Nebraska’s membership no matter what, so he can at privately guarantee Nebraska’s admission.

The Cornhuskers aren’t going to join the Big 11 this weekend, but if they are assured of admittance in the coming months, they could well announce that they will be “applying” for membership in the Big 11.