The Nebraska football team might not have UCLA as a conference foe after all.
Dreams of Scott Frost vs. Chip Kelly are already starting to fade. They’re not gone yet, mind you but it appears there is at least one roadblock being placed in their way.
It turns out that the Bruins’ plans to join the Big Ten conference might not have gone through the proper channels. And it also turns out that there are at least a few people in positions of power at UCLA that aren’t thrilled about leaving the Pac-12.
On Wednesday, the University of California system leadership proposed brand new rules. According to the Los Angeles Times, the rules would limit system colleges such as UCLA from making major decisions involving athletics contracts on their own.
As part of the announcement of the new rules, two regents and the general counsel of the UC system suggested that this could be a way to stop the Bruins from joining the Nebraska football team and the rest of the Big Ten.
The regents held a closed hour-long session on Wednesday, and when they emerged from the meeting, the attorney said the group has retained the ability to block UCLA from leaving the Pac 12. Regent John Perez made it clear that there is a chance they might indeed make that block saying that “all options are on the table.”
"“All options are on the table. Up to and including that. … We’re going to look at what all the different options look like and then the board will assert itself in terms of what its desired outcome is.”"
For its part, leadership at UCLA had thought a 1991 rule allowed them to decide to leave the Pac 12 and Big Ten unilaterally. That is now an open question and drama might be right around the corner.
The other open question at this point is whether or not UC leadership would really go through with blocking the Bruins’ move. It appears that Nebraska football fans will have to wait a bit longer to see if they’re going to get a brand new rival in the Big Ten.