helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Before settling on their current nickname, they were at various times referred to as the
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Hawkeyes
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">(
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">name already taken), the Antelopes (which aren't native to this continent) and the Mankilling Mastodons (sure beats the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs). In 1900 though, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln officially too
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">k hold of the name,
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Cornhuskers.
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Friday, that same university added yet another name to its repertoire—The Big Ten.
A member of the Big 12 Conference since the league was formed in 1994, Nebraska will become the newest member of the athletically and academically prestigious Big Ten Conference since Penn State University
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">joined in 1990. Approved unanimously by all 11 Big Ten schools, the move is set to become official in July 2011.
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Nebraska is a seemingly perfect fit for the Big Ten, and a
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">near twin in many ways of
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">UW
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">-Madison. Both schools are members of the prestigious 61 member Association of American Universities (as is every school already in the conference), are land-grant institutions, are world-renowned research universities,
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">have two student unions, have a residence hall named ‘Smith'
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">and are situated in their state's respective capital city.
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Although totaling
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">just over 18,500
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">undergraduates, making it now the
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span""> second smallest Big Ten school (only Northwestern is smaller), what the
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Cornhuskers lack in enrollment, they certainly make up in athletics.
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Far and above any mention of enrollment size or academic rigor, Big Ten expansion has always been about football, and Nebraska football is one of the most storied programs in the nation. The Cornhuskers have won 46 conference championships, five national titles (1970, 1971, 1994, 1995 and 1997), are one of only seven programs
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span""> nationally to achieve 800 total wins, boast three Heisman Trophy winners and have sold out every home game since 1962 in a stadium that currently seats well over 80,000 fans.
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Last season, the Cornhusker football team finished with a 10-4 record which included a 33-0 blowout of Arizona in the Holiday Bowl. Additionally, Nebraska is 0-2 in Rose Bowl g
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">ames, including a 2002 loss to Miami.
The addition of a twelfth school to the Big Ten also most likely means a two-division format and, most notably, a football conference championship game. (All of which means a lot of money for every school in the conference.) For Wisconsin, early projections have the Badgers in a ""Western"" division along with the new arrival Nebraska, rival Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Northwestern.
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September 21, 1974, the fourth ranked Cornhuskers marched into Camp Randall and were sent home with a 21-20 defeat at the hands of the Badgers—the last meeting between the two teams. 36 years later, Wisconsin will potentially face a long awaited re-match in the 2011 season.
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">The addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten affects conference athletics far beyond just football. Although the Cornhusker men's basketball team finished last season 17-18 and holds the dubious distinction as one of very few major conference programs never to win an NCAA Tournament game (0-6), the women's basketball program has found great success in recent years, most notably last season. The women
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Cornhuskers finished the 2010-11 season with one regular
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span""> season loss and secured a number-one
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span""> seed bid
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span""> in the NCAA Tournament. The team's head coach, Connie
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Yori, was named National Coach of the Year.
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">However, after
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span""> football, what the Huskers really pride themselves in athletically is their women's
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">volleyball dynasty. The program boasts 11 NCAA Final Four appearances and three national championships (1995, 2000 and
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">2006). In fact, Nebraska has participated in every NCAA volleyball national tournament except for the event's first year in 1981.
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As members of the Big Ten, the Cornhuskers will have the chance to compete against the most dominant women's volleyball program
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">s in the nation today—Penn State. The Nittany Lions are three-time defending national champions and have not lost a match since the 2007 season.
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Additionally, Nebraska boasts three national titles in women's track and field, an eight-time national champion men's gymnastics program and the most Academic All-Americans of any university in the nation.
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span""> The school can also lay claim to two official mascots, Herbie Husker and ‘Lil Red.
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The coming weeks are sure to bring even more conference shake-ups that will affect the Big Ten and Wisconsin athletics in some form or another. However, even if the conference freezes current expansion at just 12 members, the
sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">Cornhuskers will certainly alter the future of a conference already home to some of the nation's finest programs
helvetica, sans-serif"" class=""Apple-style-span"">, and will give Badger fans yet another reason to love their home in the Big Ten
Think expanding the Big Ten will bring about a collegiate athletics apocalypse? Send your panicked pleas to Mark at mdbennett2@dailycardinal.com
