Thoughts on Conference Expansion: Nebraska by Friday?

And once again, signs point toward there being major news made on the conference expansion front in the next few days. According to a report this morning in the Omaha World-Herald: 

An executive at a Big 12 school relayed to The World-Herald on Tuesday that he expects Nebraska to become a member of the Big Ten as early as Friday.

NU Chancellor Harvey Perlman has declined all interviews about conference realignment and expansion. He is expected to address the topic with the Board of Regents at its Friday meeting in Lincoln.

Direct confirmation from Nebraska of a conference change for the Huskers wasn't immediately available. Sources at two other Big 12 schools told The World-Herald that their athletic directors have instructed them to be ready by week's end for a briefing on probable Big 12 changes.

Now, that's not exactly minor news in the first place, but especially consider the source here. The Omaha World-Herald, well, that's not exactly a Bleacher Report. William Jennings Bryan was the editor at one time, they've won Pulitzer Prizes, and even now that paper has the highest penetration rate in the country. It is the primary newspaper in the state of Nebraska, and their website, Omaha.com, is the most visited site in the region. And given the diehard support that the Huskers receive, when they say Nebraska may become a member of the Big Ten as early as Friday... well, that's about like the Tuscaloosa News publishing something equally ground-breaking about our beloved Tide. It may not be written in stone, but it's about as high of a journalistic authority as you can get.

So maybe we do hear something on Nebraska by the end of the week. One way or the other, the consensus does certainly seem to be that Nebraska would bolt for the Big Ten if they indeed were offered an invitation. Frankly, if, by the end of the week, Nebraska officials feel reasonably certain that one is coming (or know for certain that they have one in hand), it's easy to see them saying yes. Besides, all other substantive arguments notwithstanding, at this point Nebraska controls its own destiny and as I wrote yesterday with the issue of time being such a crucial factor in all of this, that could be something they relinquish control of if they wait much longer.

Either way, with all of the news leaking out about Nebraska and Colorado, it seems like we could have some substantive news on expansion as early as this weekend.