ORLANDO, Fla. — Surf's up, Nebraska.

Stock up on sunscreen. Start learning which vintage from Napa County goes with crab and salmon. And don't let anyone snake your fins (beach lingo for steal your surf gear).

The Huskers are basking in the Florida sun this week. Soon, they'll be tilted toward the left coast.

Change is coming. It arrived on Tuesday when Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Pac-12 Commish Larry Scott, looking like a pair of sharp CEOs, announced their idea of a two-conference collaboration in scheduling and cross-promotions.

The college sports world reacted like the cyber world pays attention whenever Apple announces a new product or direction. What do they know that we don't? Pulses are racing. Here's the new wave.

It's a wave, all right. And the tide looks to carry Nebraska out west.

This partnership looks smart and potentially brilliant. But is it a good thing for Nebraska — specifically the football product?

Time will tell. But this could change the profile and identity of the Big Red, for better or worse.

Instead of being a national program, which the Huskers like to think of themselves as, Nebraska may soon be known as a Big Ten program with a California beach house.

Beginning in 2017, the Big Ten and Pac-12 should have a full nonconference schedule arranged. Every fall, the 12 teams in both leagues will each play one game against the other.

The matchups will be set up by the league offices, who hopefully will have a sense of history, if not a sense of humor.

The Big Ten will continue to have eight conference games. Which leaves the four slots for nonconference games.

You know the drill: NU typically leaves one spot for a home-and-home with a big name, then tries to fill the other three with home games against mid-majors or lower-level schools to help pay the bills.

This allows Nebraska to pick and choose national TV games that spread the love and give the Huskers their national shine. In 2012-13, NU plays UCLA. In 2014-15, it's Miami, Fla. In 2016-17, it's Tennessee.

Oops. In 2017, it may be Tennessee and USC. Before the Big Ten onslaught.

We'll see how Bo Pelini likes that action.

You know where this is going. Nebraska, like most Big Ten schools, will likely use the annual Pac-12 game as its one big-time nonconference game. Which doesn't leave room for LSU or Florida or Oklahoma or any number of other attractive match-ups.

Maybe Harvey Perlman or Tom Osborne can petition to get OU in the Pac-12 by 2017. We need that Nebraska-Oklahoma game in 2021, the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Last Century.

Unless, of course, Nebraska is in the mood to play two of those big games once in a while, along with the Big Ten thrill ride.

After Capital One Bowl practice on Wednesday, Pelini said he hadn't thought much about it yet, but added, "We play good people. I don't mind playing a tough schedule."

The news definitely throws NU for a loop. Jeff Jamrog, NU's assistant athletic director for football, said he was "well into the 2020s" lining up contracts with what he called marquee teams "we've played in the past."

Now? It's too early to say what will happen. But the guess here is that Nebraska would have to be back up on the big-boy level, and there would have to be a guarantee of at least seven home games, before there are two of those games in one month.

"We've had some talks with some of the big teams," Jamrog said. "We'll see how that plays out now, until we get a clear vision on who, what, when, where."

This partnership should be a boon for sports like Nebraska basketball and baseball, which typically have a hard time getting home games against marquee teams. Imagine Arizona or UCLA coming to the Lincoln Arena. Or Darin Erstad taking his club to Dodger Stadium or playing Stanford at TD Ameritrade. That's the stuff that helps you build.

But on the surface, you wonder if this could be a thing that limits Nebraska in all things football.

The Big Red has taken its show to all corners of the college football world. They made themselves a "national" program through winning big, but also by appearing on national TV against the best of the best. Alabama. Auburn. Notre Dame. Florida State. On and on.

If the Huskers soon become a team you see play against Ohio State or Michigan or USC or Cal, do they lose that national luster?

It doesn't have to be a negative. This partnership should open the golden gates of California — not to mention Phoenix, Seattle, Oregon — in recruiting. Pelini might have to rethink his recruiting strategy.

Could you still recruit Texas and Florida hard without playing games there? Sure. But if NU is on the West Coast every year, or every other year, you know they'll eventually spend more time there looking for players, too.

It's a dynamic worth watching. Every coach who ever wore a Nebraska hat will tell you it's harder to recruit to Nebraska, and that you have to recruit nationally to win.

Does this move make it harder? Maybe, maybe not. Nebraska can still maintain its national profile with a second marquee nonconference game, but the road to glory then becomes stiffer.

Does this make Nebraska more of a Big Ten school? Absolutely.

Is this move a brilliant move for the Big Ten? Absolutely.

What's good for the Big Ten is good for Nebraska. That's the new wave, too.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

twitter.com/tomshatelOWH

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