Is BYU looking for a Big 12 partner?

FORT WORTH, Texas — Children of the Corn, your harvest awaits. Brigham Young fans, don't hold your breath waiting for a Big 12 invitation unless you can secure a higher-profile expansion partner.

Let those sentences serve as responses to two of the biggest unanswered questions hanging over this Big 12 football season: Who will win the 2010 championship? And, the follow-up: What will happen once Nebraska bolts for the Big Ten after the Cornhuskers prevail in this year's conference championship game at Cowboys Stadium?

Yes, I'm still drinking the Big Red Kool-Aid — as I mentioned for the first time in January — regardless of who emerges as the Huskers' starting quarterback. Nebraska has a user-friendly schedule and a defense strong enough to trump any lingering offensive deficiencies, especially with offenses at Texas and Oklahoma under the direction of young quarterbacks prone to ill-timed turnovers.

Besides, it seems only appropriate in this year of endless conference realignment talk that the final scene should involve commissioner Dan Beebe handing the championship trophy to Nebraska administrators while chants of "Big Ten! Big Ten!" rain down from the rafters in Arlington.

So, book it: Nebraska over Oklahoma for the Big 12 title on Dec. 4. But that merely opens the door to Question No. 2, which has a greater long-term impact on the remaining league teams:

How will the conference look in future football seasons, once Nebraska and Colorado move on to other leagues? Big 12 officials swear they love their soon-to-be, 10-member configuration. And I believe them ... unless network TV officials offer a more lucrative expansion plan.

Then, everything changes. If there's one thing we've learned this summer, it's that network TV officials have the power to make college administrators do almost anything if the money is piled high enough.

One conspiracy theory, and a good one, suggests that BYU's recent decision to compete as an independent in football, starting in 2011, is merely the first step in a journey toward greener financial pastures and BCS inclusion.

Instead of a permanent declaration of independence, BYU is testing the market in free agency.

If this is not true, BYU administrators are setting an NCAA record for short-sighted and ill-advised decisions. So I'll grant them the benefit of the doubt and assume there is method to this madness.