Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball is handcuffed by a Big Ten that doesn't care

When the Nebraska Cornhuskers made the move to the Big Ten, there was one program in particular that faced a very uncertain future. The baseball team came to a bit of a fork in the road. Either it would be able to dominate a conference that was undisputedly on a lower run than the Big 12, or it would struggle and get pulled down into the muck.

The Huskers haven’t followed either path exactly. They haven’t dominated in the way some people thought they would. But they’ve had their fair share of wins. They finish in the top half of the Big Ten more often than not. And in 2024, they won the conference tournament for the first time.

But the Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball program is also doing battle to get a seat at the table when talking about the best teams in the country. The Blue Chip programs in the sport. And it’s not getting much help from the Big Ten. It doesn’t appear that will change in the near future, as witnessed by the rumblings coming for when college baseball is officially able to offer more scholarships.

Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball handcuffed by a Big Ten that doesn’t care enough 

College Baseball expert Kendall Rogers recently threw some cold water on excitement over the sport becoming more of a priority thanks to the House settlement. He was asked directly whether he believed the conference would have all the teams go to a full 34-player roster as some other conferences are planning.

“Not happening,” he responded. “I would be surprised if the Big Ten goes much over 11.7 to start. The league will be forced to get more aggressive as time moves on.”

If you’re wondering where he got that number, it’s the current scholarship limit. 

In other words, the Big Ten won’t allowed the Nebraska Cornhuskers to go up to 34 scholarships even if they wanted to. This plan will keep the conference behind powershouses like the SEC and the ACC, even if they don’t boost the schollies right away.

And even if the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the rest of the Big Ten are “forced” to bump it up eventually, that force will likely come in the form of the conference continuing to be one of the worst “power” conferences in the country.