LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- When Nebraska beat Oklahoma in the 1971 Game of the Century, when Johnny Rodgers took that punt return the distance, Tom Osborne was there.
He made the call when the Cornhuskers fell short on the 2-point conversion try for the win against Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl.
He won three national championships and went 60-3 in his last five seasons, the final two coming in the Big 12. As much as anyone, Osborne epitomized the Big Eight and had a hand in building the Big 12 into a BCS power.
"He made the Big Eight what it was," said Barry Switzer, Osborne's friend and coaching counterpart at Oklahoma in the 1970s and '80s.
Now, with Nebraska's move to the Big Ten, Osborne is one of the key architects in putting the Big 12 on the brink of irrelevancy, if not destruction.
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Osborne said the nostalgia he felt for the days Nebraska played Oklahoma for league titles waned years ago, and he leaves longtime opponents Kansas, Missouri and others behind with a touch of sadness -- but no regrets.
"We're going to miss them, and we feel bad about that, but we're looking forward to some other competition. Life goes on," said Osborne, Nebraska's 73-year-old athletic director.
As Big 12 teeters on the brink, Missouri scrambles
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri curators will meet behind closed doors Sunday night for the fourth time in as many days as the school turns its attention to saving the Big 12 Conference after its apparent bid to join the Big Ten failed.
The meeting follows two days of discussions in Columbia amid a shifting landscape that saw Big 12 members Colorado and Nebraska bolt for the Pac-10 and Big Ten.
Missouri was considered one of the top prospects for an expanded Big Ten, and the school could still wind up there as conference realignment continues to unfold.
For now, school officials are publicly pledging their loyalty to a 10-team Big 12 -- even as their counterparts in Texas and Oklahoma prepare for their own private meetings this week that could result in an exodus from the conference.
Chancellor Brady Deaton told alumni in an e-mail he "will do everything possible to assure the success of the conference."
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"We have been a proud member of the Big Six, Big Seven and Big Eight, and we continue to take great pride in the accomplishments of the Big 12," Deaton wrote while noting Missouri's role in forming the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1907. "Our position as a member for more than 100 years gives us a great appreciation for the tremendous value of our conference."
