Nebraska joins the Big Ten

College football changed forever Friday -- -it’s now a wild, new numbers game.

The Big Ten Conference officially added Nebraska to become 12 teams, while the Big 12 officially lost two schools (Nebraska and Colorado) to drop to 10.

Change Big Ten to 12 and Big 12 to 10--at least through the weekend.

“This is the right move at the right time,” Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne proclaimed. “…it’s the right thing to do for Nebraska.”

Meanwhile, the Pacific 10 Conference had 10 members on Wednesday, 11 on Thursday when it added Colorado, and is on a fast track to becoming 16 after it invites five teams from the Big 12: Texas, Texas A & M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

The Pac-10 is poised to become the Pac-16---the only question now is the timing of the news conference. (Guess: Tuesday.)

In what should be viewed as a temporary tap on the brakes, Texas announced Friday it wasn’t making a decision until after its regents meeting early next week.

“It is both premature and inappropriate to speculate on what our UT system regents will discuss at next Tuesday’s meeting,” Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said in a statement. “But, as the dynamics of the Big 12 continue to change around us, we will utilize additional time to continue our work and evaluate our options.”

A Pac-10 source who didn’t want to be named because the change wasn’t official, said Texas has already figured out its best option: joining the Pac-10. The conference is moving full-throttle toward becoming major-college sports’ only 16-team league.

One potential snag in the deal is Texas A&M;, which is reportedly getting overtures from the Southeastern Conference. However, should Texas A&M; opt for the SEC, the Pac-10 is ready to quickly partner with another school, possibly Kansas, to fill the void. Kansas is a high-profile school in danger of being left behind in a diminished or dissolved Big 12.

The trigger-mechanism for the Pac-10’s big move was Nebraska’s official announcement Friday that it was becoming the 12th member of the Big Ten. Nebraska will join, in all sports, beginning in 2011.

What happens to the Big 12 (minus two) is anyone’s guess. Commissioner Dan Beebe tried to stay hopeful Friday, saying on a conference call, “There is a bright future if we stay together.”

Missouri, which thought it might get an invite from the Big Ten, is now left with holdovers Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Iowa State.

The Big 12 could dissolve, with remaining schools getting absorbed into other conferences, or try to add schools and stay solvent.

Beebe is still holding out hope Texas and others will reconsider and the league can continue with 10 members. “I’m going all the way to the final whistle,” he said.

The Mountain West, which on Monday postponed adding Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference because of all the uncertainty in the Big 12, extended the invitation Friday. Boise State accepted.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, Charlie Brown finally kicked the football,” Boise State president Bob Kustra announced at a news conference. “It went straight through the uprights and Boise State scored big time.”

Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said he wanted to act now to “make sure we got Boise State in the fold.”

The Mountain West may stay at 10 teams, or grow to 12, or 16. “The decisions are coming down in real-time speed,” Thompson said.

This is not likely to be the end of conference expansion. The Big Ten may stay at 12 or look to get larger. Notre Dame plans to remain an independent, but that could change if the landscape changes even more dramatically.

Thompson of the Mountain West isn’t sure all of this land-swapping is good for college sports, but he also doesn’t want to get left behind.

“My personal opinion, it does bother me,” Thompson said of the realignment. “I think geographics have gone out of vogue, which is unfortunate. I don’t like the fact that natural historical rivalries have been passed over. We seem to have gone quite corporate in chasing the elusive dollar at the expense of what logically might make better sense.”

chris.dufresne@latimes.com