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July 1st, 2026 marks the 15-year anniversary of the Nebraska Cornhuskers severing ties with the Big 12 and joining their new neighbors to the north and east in the Big Ten Conference. To mark the occasion, I thought a quick poll might capture how people feel about the move. Here’s the question and the options I posed:
July 1st, 2026 marks 15 years since Nebraska joined the Big Ten. Are you glad we made the move?
A) Yes, 100%. It was a huge financial upgrade, it raised our academic prestige, and it created a far more stable situation. Osborn saw the Texas warning signs in the Big 12 and urged a change.
B) Yes, but the presence of two fellow member programs with somewhat different sets of rules is a bit annoying. Also, the Big Ten scandals during that period were next-level awful.
C) No, it hasn’t been great for football and hasn’t quite felt like the right cultural fit. For Nebraska, it felt like a last straw moment: Texas, with Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe acting as their figurehead, had essentially taken control of the conference, following Longhorn whims while Nebraska stood as the dissenting vote. Tom Osborne warned that Texas wasn’t acting in Nebraska’s best interests, but the warning fell on deaf ears, and Nebraska moved on.
Things quickly deteriorated for the remaining teams after that, beginning with the Longhorn Network throwing the balance of power completely out of whack as the others watched. Today, only half of the original Big 8 and Big 12 remain (with Texas having pulled away after turning the conference into rubble). It’s become barely more than a G5 conference, with a Texas Tech booster calling the shots and Monster Energy Drink patches appearing on all jerseys this season for a mere $1.25 million per school.
The Big Ten? They built a conference network and secured a lucrative deal for member schools, rising to the same level of wealth and influence as the SEC—the two most powerful conferences in Division I. They persuaded four of the strongest Pac-12 programs to move as well, effectively hastening the Pac-12’s collapse. Nebraska sports have thrived in the revamped Big Ten, with the notable exception of football, which has struggled. Two straight bowl trips after a decade without one have left many frustrated, wondering if the program can ever reach Pelini-era heights again, or even the Tom Osborne days.
So, here we are 15 years later—how satisfied is everyone? Almost half of respondents feel history has proven the right choice was made. Forty-seven percent are all in on the Big Ten. Nebraska is financially more secure, has improved academically, and is no longer under the influence of the Longhorns and their peerless commissioner. Several other Big 12 schools followed suit, tired of Texas’ grip and the external overseers who kept their hands on the conference’s reins, though not to the same Texas-scale extent.
About 24 percent feel some residual Texas influence remains, a nod to the lingering effects in the way Michigan and Ohio State are perceived and portrayed.