It was like a family reunion, except some of the relatives were going to marry into another family in a couple of years and everyone knew it.

The Big 12 media days represented one last gathering of the complete dozen, as Nebraska and Colorado are set to join the Big Ten and Pac-10, respectively.

Commissioners, athletic directors and coaches all gave their thoughts on the matter while the players just had to sit and watch like the rest of us.

Turns out they cared about what happened less than anyone. And so they stomached another wave of realignment talk, some in good spirits.

Kansas offensive lineman Brad Thorson, who broke his foot early July, was wearing a protective boot just as a precautionary measure. Even though it was healthy enough to run on, he had to attribute to boot to some looming danger.

“You never know with Colorado Buffs around here,” Thorson said.

It seemed whether it was the departing Colorado players or Big 12 savior Texas, it just seemed like players were fine with whatever decision was made.

“I think when it’s all said and done,” Colorado corner back Jalil Brown said, “it will work out for the school.”

Scotty McKnight, wide receiver for the Buffaloes, grew up in California and went to Colorado to experience new parts of the country. He said going to Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas helped him become more open to new things.

“College football is everything to those people so that was a great experience,” McKnight said.

McKnight has a bunch of friends in Pac-10 schools. Now with Colorado in the mix, he said he can root against all his buddies’ schools after next year.

“It’s perfect for me,” he said. “It all worked out.”

The current lynchpin for the Big 12 is Texas. It was persuaded to stay and in doing so, nobody from the remaining ten schools left.

Texas defensive end Sam Acho said he trusted whatever his school’s leadership decided to do. If the Longhorns left, it would just mean starting new customs. Staying keeps the old ones in place.

“The Big 12 has such great tradition and so many great rivalries and I’m happy to be a part of it,” Acho said.

In a more pure sense of motivation, Texas defensive tackle Kheeston Randall summed up every player’s role in the matter. No matter what decision was made, no matter who is playing who, he still has to get the pads on and play.

“That’s what I like doing – playing football,” Randall said. “I would’ve won either way.”