Shatel: Delany delivers hard right cross

Thank you, Mr. Delany. May Nebraska have another?

NU was officially welcomed to the Big Ten on Wednesday night. Pass the smelling salts.

The Huskers’ first run through the league isn’t a schedule, it’s an initiation. At Wisconsin. Ohio State. At Penn State. At Michigan. Iowa. Couldn’t they have just dropped Bo Pelini and the lads off in the middle of Indiana and had them walk home?

Think this arrangement was a coincidence? Pulled out of a hat? Hardly. Know that the Big Ten is happy as heck to have Big Red in the house. Know also that this old fraternity wasn’t going to let the Huskers just waltz in without a little hazing. Wisconsin and Ohio State in the same rotation? That’s a Woody Hayesesque punch in the nose.

If the Big Red can stay on their collective feet, they’ll be the better for it.

All paddles aside, there was a lot to like from a Husker standpoint in Wednesday’s announcement. Driveable trips for the fans. Recruiting bases in Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit. The Big Red meets the Big House. Bo Pelini vs. Kevin Cosgrove. Northwestern vs. Nebraska at Wrigley Field, anyone? Fine. Make it Soldier Field.

Mostly, Nebraska and Iowa became officially official. And on Thanksgiving weekend, no less. Talk about a feast.

You heard it here last: Huskers and Hawks will be a better rivalry than Nebraska vs. Oklahoma.

Yes, I said it. For one thing, it will be a true rivalry. Iowa-Nebraska will never have the national implications that OU-NU did or be the must-see national TV game every year. Huskers and Hawks isn’t likely to ever be a history book in the library of football classics. And we’ll see how many times Kirk Ferentz gets invited to speak in Kearney or Omaha after he’s retired, like Barry Switzer still does.

But NU-Iowa will have what the old red rivalry never did: true emotion. Did I mention hate? Nebraskans and Iowans never knew how much they disliked each other because they never had reason to pay attention to one another. The Big Ten gave them that reason last night. Now, they’ll not only play, they’ll play for the right to win a division — one that looks imminently doable with Michigan in Rich Rodriguez mode.

This is going to be a grocery store rivalry. That’s where you bump into your rival standing in the checkout line. You never saw many Sooners in Omaha. Nebraska-Iowa will be 24-7-365. It will be hot. It will be intense. And it will be great fun. A real rivalry, with real bruises, emotional and otherwise. This will be the true blood rivalry that Nebraska has never had. Putting the Hawkeyes at the end of the schedule will only enhance a sweet fall soundtrack of woofing over state lines.

Question: If Oklahoma-Nebraska was such a good rivalry, why did OU walk away from it? Answer: In the end, one side cared more than other.

Interstate 80, from Lincoln to Iowa City, goes both ways.

There’s more on the checklist. Penn State? Check. The Big Ten took care of Nebraska by making old pal Joe Paterno the designated crossover opponent. This idea, by the way, was a necessity. It’s a relatively simple tweak in the schedule that smooths out ruffled feathers and preserves the traditions that should be kept behind locked glass. If the forefathers of the Big 12 had made Nebraska-Oklahoma the crossover rival, Nebraska might not be here today. Of course, Oklahoma didn’t want that and the Sooners happened to be helping put together the league at the time.

Michigan? That’s a bonus rivalry. There’s still enough leftover juice simmering from 1997 for these two to become intense in a hurry. And, sorry, but there’s nothing in the Big 12 North to match this kind of game every year. The first time the Michigan helmets appear in Memorial Stadium will be a keeper. So will the white helmets and red pants going through the tunnel at Michigan Stadium. And we get to do this every fall? Fantastic.

Did we mention the Head Husker, Bo Pelini, is a former Ohio State Buckeye who was taught to hate the maize and blue? Double bonus.

The Big Ten office even put NU into a division it might get to win right away, if Bo Pelini ever names a quarterback. Iowa loses a bunch this year. Michigan won’t be Michigan for a while. The Huskers will have a legitimate shot at the first Bo Division championship, and you can pick which Bo that stands for.

The league didn’t make everyone happy, but avoided a posse with pitchforks by keeping Ohio State-Michigan together on their traditional weekend. But Big Blue and OSU are in for a little culture shock known as the league championship game. Their regular-season game will no longer be for the Rose Bowl and now for merely more important things, like bragging rights. The Big Ten title game will be the game of the year in the league.

If there’s one downside to this brave, new world, it’s that the run to a national title looks like the 200 high hurdles. Iowa, Michigan, Penn State and then Ohio State is an imposing annual gantlet. But then, Nebraska knew that going in. This move eastward and upward was made with more far-ranging things in mind, like libraries and grants and national TV appearances every week.

Of course, NU could have stayed in the Big 12 and risked trying to win a national title in the Mountain West one day. Ask BYU how that works.

There’s sure to be some knee-slapping yucks going on in the Big 12 today. They’ll want to see Nebraska suffer. If so, that raises the question: if you think Nebraska got a bad deal, do you still believe the Big 12 is tougher than the Big Ten? That’s a tough sell today in Lincoln, Neb.

The Huskers will eventually get the last laugh in the Big Ten. Next year, that will be through clenched teeth.

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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