Beebe: Big 12 has renewed sense of itself

NCAA Football Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe addressed the media at a press conference Tuesday and talked about the new-look 10-team league following an 11th-hour pact to save its very existence.

Beebe and the Big 12 came through with pledges from its remaining members -- Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Baylor -- on Monday when all signs pointed to an imminent collapse amid a strongly-rumored defection to the Pac-10 led by Texas.

The announcements came several days after the conference saw Colorado go to the Pac-10 and Nebraska depart for the Big Ten.

The reduced number of schools means changes for the Big 12, something Beebe said isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"There was significant concern with it not working out. We lost two valuable members, but we're very satisfied with the remaining members. This kind of experience can solidify the conference for a very long time. They've come to the conclusion that they want to remain together. This is the exact place that they all should be. I believe we're coming out of this with a better sense of unity then we've ever had," Beebe said.

Among the tangible changes is the loss of the Big 12 Championship Game and a necessary shuffling of the schedule with the impending departures of Nebraska effective in 2011-12 and Colorado in 2012-13. Beebe remarked the loss of the league title game may put the conference in a better position to compete for a national championship, pointing to Missouri's loss to Oklahoma in the 2007 edition coming off a win against unbeaten Kansas.

"Our coaches have not really been interested in a championship game, which is ironic because some leagues like the Big Ten are trying to get there (12 teams). We'll have to experience how it is not to have one. It may make access to the BCS Championship game better for us."

Beebe also addressed the possibility of expansion and talked of the league adopting a nine-game conference schedule that would stretch into December.

"It's very remote (chance) that we're going to expand. We like the ten that are in the conference. Certainly there will be no expansion in the region that we currently occupy," added Beebe, "I think there is a high degree of attraction to having nine football games. Now, there is an ability to do that."

Beebe reflected that the process to persuade the potential defectors was not an easy one with the promise of a lucrative mega-conference in the Pac-10 with Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech while Texas A&M mulled a move to the SEC.

"We had an honorable commitment. They had to look each other in the eyes and say 'if we do this we mean it'. Some had to go back to their Board of Regents and some were in a position to make the decision right there," Beebe said of Monday's decisive meeting. "I knew that once there was an established method to get to that commitment there was going to be an accelerated decision by our institutions."

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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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