Are Traditional Rivarlies Important?

Colorado jumped to the PAC 10. Nebraska joined the BIG 10. BIG 12 commissioner, Dan Beebe, stopped the bleeding by convincing King Domino Texas to stay. The other nine schools followed suit. With college football's landscape shifting, some traditional rivalries are blowing in the winds of change. Remember the BIG 8 rivalry game pitting Barry Switzer's Sooners vs. Tom Osborne's Cornhuskers? Some titanic clashes took place for many years, resulting in national championship implications. The BIG 12 put these two teams in different divisions, no longer matching up annually. Now a non-conference game, or possible Bowl match-up is all that remains for a once storied rivalry.

At least the Red River Battle between Texas and Oklahoma is intact with division conference and National Championship significance every year. Texas vs. Texas A&M is as intense a rivalry as there is in college football. The Sunflower Showdown for state bragging rights between Kansas & Kansas State has been quite important to many fans for many years. The historical border war pitting Missouri vs. Kansas has been contested for more than a century.

With the BIG 12 staying intact, all the traditional rivalries will live on. Some new competitions will be born in the BIG 10 that could only be previously enjoyed by BCS Bowl match-ups. Nebraska vs. Ohio State/Michigan/Penn State could all build national intrigue. The natural border battle between Nebraska and Iowa could develop into a beauty.

One final BIG 12 rival that stayed intact is Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State. A game called Bedlam, which is exactly how traditionalists describe today's college football movements and new affiliations. I like the fact that games contested for a hundred years will continue to be played with the survival of the BIG 12. I think the ten team BIG 12 conference will reach to former Southwest conference teams Houston & TCU. This will allow for a conference championship game, plus jump start some old rivalries while building some new, exciting ones.