It had been 20 years and seven days, to be exact, when the Big Ten last added a school to its ranks.

Back then, Penn State was granted admission to bring the conference to 11 teams. And last Friday, June 11, the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors voted unanimously to accept the application from the University of Nebraska to join the conference and increase the membership to 12.

"The Big Ten Conference has much to offer," Nebraska Athletic Director and former football coach Tom Osborne said in a press release. "This is a tribute to our athletic program, our academic programs and our fans. This is the right move at the right time. This is a rare opportunity that may not have been an option for us in the future."

The decision will be effective July 1, 2011, which will allow Nebraska athletics to compete in all sports for the 2011-12 academic year. And regarding football, with 12 teams, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told reporters via teleconference that he expects the conference to have a championship game come 2011.

Delany added that three criteria for placing Big Ten teams into divisions were, in order: competitive fairness, maintenance of rivalries and geography.

“I think it’s a phenomenal fit, academically, athletically, culturally,” Delany said of Nebraska in an interview with the Big Ten Network.

It has been widely discussed that the reason for expansion is to extend the reach of the Big Ten Network and generate even more money for new and existing Big Ten schools.

With Nebraska, the Big Ten is getting a Midwest, blue collar-type school in the same mold as the Wisconsins and the Iowas that are already linchpins in the conference.

The move makes sense for Nebraska, too.

“We're obviously not (located) in the Sun Belt,” Osborne said at a press conference. “And we find some of our sports at a disadvantage because of that. Most young people who are golfers or play tennis or play baseball or play softball, sometimes even soccer, would prefer to go some place where they can practice outside year-round ... So we would probably be having, in comparison, more of apples to apples (with Big Ten teams).

“It doesn't mean that we can't compete (in the Big 12). We can compete, but it's just more difficult.”

With rumors flying that the Pac-10 Conference was looking at expanding from its 10 teams by possibly taking up to six Big 12 teams, the latter seemed to be in turmoil and looked unstable.

The Big Ten had the security that the Cornhuskers were longing for.

“Stability is something (that) whenever you can see it, you want to hold onto it,” Osborne said. “Because athletics tends to be a very unstable profession. So we think the stability of the Big Ten is something we cannot ignore at this time.”

Whether or not the Big 12's remaining teams will stay in the conference is still up in the air. And with the departure of the University of Colorado for the Pac-10 days before Nebraska announced its move, the conference is already down to 10 teams. Osborne and Nebraska don’t see it as their fault that they might be jumping off a ship on the verge of sinking.

“One school leaving a conference doesn't break up a conference,” Osborne said. “Two schools leaving a conference doesn't break up a conference. Six schools leaving breaks up a conference.”

Added Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman: "I (asked Big 12 presidents), 'What if Nebraska stayed and Missouri left?' The response was that they would stay. I said, 'What happens if Nebraska stays and Colorado leaves,' and the response was they would stay. I said, 'What happens if both Missouri and Colorado leave and Nebraska stays?' And they could make no commitment that they would then stay in the Big 12."

Athletically, the changes are obvious — Nebraska provides another team to round out the sporting schedule and create new rivalries with. But the move fits academically, too.

“The Big Ten is all members of the (Association of American Universities), which is of considerable importance when you try and recruit faculty, when you seek research grants, when you do other things in the academic environment,” Perlman said. “The Big Ten operates the Big Ten Network. It will allow all Nebraskans to see almost all of Nebraska's competitive games — not just football, not just men's basketball.”

Nebraska is also a member of the AAU.

Michigan could see the Cornhuskers show up on its schedule in 2011 at the earliest.