10:13 p.m.: Nebraska is free.

That is, free of the Big 12 Conference, a halfway house or subway stop where the Huskers/Tom Osborne never felt right, never felt at home. It's over, as of Tuesday's news that the Big Red will pay $9.2 million in exit fees, or withheld revenues, to the rest of the Big 12.

It's not an earth-shattering amount. My sources at NU said all along they expected the school to be accountable for about half the amount designated in the league by-laws, which is $19 million. NU got out for just less than half that. In the short-term, it's a hit to the budget, but the Big Ten, at $20 million per year, will heal the financial wounds. And that number is bound to go up.

A lot of credit goes to chancellor Harvey Perlman for this. Perlman shocked some folks by saying NU didn't owe a cent. But that was a negotiating tactic, start at the bottom and end up in the middle. Folks at Mizzou and Texas thought Perlman was piling on in his farewell speech at the NU Regents Meeting back in June, but the former attorney was making a classic legal play. Missouri talked about wanting to leave. Texas was being deal broker with the Pac-10 for other Big 12 South schools. Who was making the first move was irrelevant. Perlman's point was well-taken: the Big 12 was an unstable place to be. NU was simply taking care of itself. Who could argue?

Not Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe, another former attorney, who didn't want to try that in court. Maybe Texas didn't want its email evidence dragged into public court. Whatever, the matter was settled and Nebraska and Colorado -- partners at last -- won big.

NU gives up $9.2 million. Colorado got the bargain number of $6.8. However you slice it, the Big 12 blinked. And now Beebe has to sell a whopping $16 million in exit fees to his 10-member league, when they were originally thinking of a bigger number, like $30 million.

How Beebe will get to his $20 million per school -- was that for Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma or everyone? -- wlll be interesting. And what A&M, which reportedly had a feeler from the SEC, will do is anyone's guess. The Aggies said they wanted their $20 million cut or else. Or else what?

Did anyone actually have another option out there, another card to play? Maybe we'll find out.

Later Tuesday night, orangebloods.com, reported on Twitter that part of the $20 million cut for the big boys could be taken out of the NU-CU cut from the "orphan five,'' or Missouri, Kansas, K-State, Iowa State and Baylor. Will those proud schools really succumb to that? What alternative do they have? How long before Texas and Texas A&M come calling again for more money?

It's a mess and, unless Beebe comes up with a blockbuster TV deal minus Nebraska and Colorado, it's going to get messier. Even with that TV deal, the pie will be sliced in the appropriate manner.

As of today, it's no longer Nebraska's problem.

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