I was talking to a Big 12 fan to get a little history on the vitriol between Nebraska and the rest of the Big 12. What I discovered was that Tom Osborne has had a long feud with the Big 12 over a bunch of things, but one of the big ones was over "partial non-qualifiers". This old SI article is worth a read (see below). Oddly enough they reference NU's (the real NU, not UNL) success at one point. Now I don't know if there stance has changed on partial non-qualifiers, but it kinda smells to me that UNL isn't necessarily the most academically oriented program, particularly with Osborne still with influence. I'd love for Nebraska fans to comment... because I don't have much perspective on how big an issue this was/is.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1007647/index.htm

At the end of the day, this 1997 article was AMAZINGLY precient as Nebraska never achieved those heights again and they correctly predicted that "Florida will challenge for the national title again. Don't laugh."

And if nothing else, bringing up the name of Tshimanga Biakabutuka and lines like "the Wolverines will be the Big Ten favorite" is fun for us old folk to see again!