Big Ten Expansion Could Have Gopher Fans Seeing Red

Minneapolis - To any gopher fan, the prospects of having Nebraska enter the Big Ten can be summed up by a single score: 84-13.

That was the results of the clinic the Cornhuskers gave to the Gophers in a woefully memorable football game in 1983. The Gophers have never been able to settle the score. Now, they just might have a chance.

The University of Nebraska board of regents is scheduled to take up the realignment issue on Friday. If they join the Big Ten, the league would jump to twelve universities.

“I think if you’re a fan and if you’re a fan of really good football, I think you gotta be excited about this,” said Gopher football broadcaster Dave Mona. “I think Nebraska has got the potential almost immediately to become a rivalry, I think the paper said this morning that they’ve played Minnesota more than any other Big Ten team.”

In fact, in the past 50 years the two teams have played each other 15 times. The Gophers’ only victory came in a 24-16 game in Lincoln in 1960, the same season the Gophers won their first Rose Bowl berth. In every game since Nebraska has manhandled the Gophers by a combined score of 567-126.

“I don’t know how good it is for Minnesota,” said long time Nebraska fan Sharon Anderson. Anderson is a Nebraska native and avid Cornhuskers fan who’s lived in Minnesota for roughly the past 20 years. “Well, first off, selfishly I think it’s a good thing because I can’t get any games here. It’s all big ten teams all the time.”

Mona says bringing Nebraska into the Big Ten would certainly add to television revenues that the schools share—Minnesota would get a bigger cut of the money. But most important, Mona says it would increase the level of competition, and the Gopher athletic program would have to step up.

“Historically the Gophers would need to rise more than others to be competitive in an ultra competitive league that has more national powers. If Texas and Nebraska came in, I mean, wow!”