I Think Nebraska Wants To Beat Us

Still waiting on the rib article.

Eff NU. They need to take their whuppin like men.

The subplots will be legion.

We missed the first game in Lincoln in ‘98 but have made the other 2. Great atmosphere inside the stadium, however Lincoln is way down the list of cool college towns we’ve visited.

The Husker fans were fairly amiable and classy after the 2002 game but less so after the 2006 last second win. Both those games were closer than they should have been, and Texas was the better team in both.

Texas will be the better team this year, too.

Mack has never lost the game immediately after the OU game. I have no idea how or why, but it would be an interesting topic. The off week adds another unkown. Hasn’t been part of the equation in the past, I don’t believe.

We’re good to go this year, too. I doubt that we’ll have the red carpet rolled out for us by the Husker fans, but I can’t imagaine an Ohio State atmosphere either. Ain’t in their DNA.

Gonna be fun.

What TOR said.

Greatness! We WILL win the last one against Nebby too!

Seriously? The Nebraska Husker Athletic site….Wow!

I look forward to beating Nebraska twice this year.

This kills me. I have no idea what the hell our athletic department is thinking with such a premature and needless promotion like this. It’s not like we our fans or players need artificial motivational materials for a game like this. Nor does Texas need any locker room material for the game. Plus, Pelini has historically stuck to the coach-speak tack of “our next game is our biggest game.” This seems to contradict that.

This is stupid.

I think this Texas team is too green at QB, too inexperienced at WR and too weak at RB to beat any quality team in the first half of the season. Especially in an incredibly hostile setting.

However, by season end, this Texas team will be on its way to being legendary.

Mushcamp’s Oct. 16th game morning shit will contain more hatred than Husker can muster between now and then.

Not everybody can spell Ogallala. I’m impressed.

I read Lonesome Dove.

wow. someone needs a colonic.

" Forget the ten days prep time – if you don’t think the Pelinis will be working on Texas in August, I have some ocean front property in Ogallala to discuss with you."

Do I spot a small T.I. reference from “Ready for Whatever”?

Ha. Will Bo shit a Carl if they lose. I’m with greentrees. That’s comedy. Great build up. I would have assumed it was a commercial for the season.

How sweet would an Arkansas-to-the-SEC type final season for Nebraska in the Big 12 be?

Pellinis may want to spend a little time working on Iowa State this August as well.

I hope our boys force feed ‘em yet another heartbreaking loss. Hopefully, they’ll make it a double – once during the regular season & again at the CCG.

Texas can’t let ’em leave the conference w/ a win over the Horns a la the Arkies in ’91.

F NU, F Osborne, & F their whiny fans.

I have been struggling with the question of why NU wanted to leave the Big 12, and lose their rivals and partners of the past century. More money? NU’s AD isn’t hurting, unlike most current ADs. Academice prestige? Maybe, but has that really been a priority for NU?

Now I know. It’s Texas. They just can’t stand playing Texas. The losses just hurt too much. The recognition that it doesn’t matter how more informed their fans are than ours, or better schemed their program is than ours…we just have too much elite talent readily available, and it’s just that much easier for us to build.

I don’t know why the losses to Texas hurt more than the losses to OU from the 1972 to 1988 era. Maybe it’s just too much.

Horncasting,
We lost to Arkansas in Fayetnam their final season in the SWC back in 91.

We missed an extra point, a 37 yard FG, and a 39 yard FG to lose 13-14.

However, we did beat them like a dog in 90 after they announced they would be going to the SEC.

Musberger has to do this game.

While the losses really have hurt, I promise you and everyone else that this isn’t about on-field competition. In our deepest, darkest days in 2007, we were still competitive with Texas. We now seem to be on the up-swing and I would expect us to have success against Texas (and Oklahoma) some of the time for the foreseeable future.

We’re leaving, because of 1) how the conference is run (largely by Texas’ fiat), and 2) because it isn’t clear whether the conference will still exist 10 years from now. On the first point, it’s probably an ego thing, but an understandable one in my view. I don’t think Texas would let anyone boss it around, or, say, issue it ultimatums as to its long-term plans. On the second point, we had an opportunity to get into a conference with proven staying power, proven earning power, an academic component that means a great deal more than just television revenue, and (most of all) future prospects. We had to jump at that.

I s’pose the best argument is the inverse (and doomsday-ish) scenario: Say we reject the Big 10 offer, we stay in the Big XII. We’re probably largely successful in the ensuing years. We might even win some conference titles. But in the meantime, Texas is working to put its network together, and so are other team (Nebraska included). However, only Texas’ network is supported by enough subscribers to make it really lucrative for them. At that point, Texas can afford to flee to the conference for another one that has more viewers, bigger names, and (possibly) better academic chops, e.g. the Pac 10 (or 12, or whatever the hell they’re gonna call themselves), Big 10, or a the SEC (minus academic chops). Then where is Nebraska left? Who knows whether we’re still attractive at that point. Maybe we get into a relevant, income producing conference with prospects, or maybe we don’t. As leader of an athletic department, can you afford to stand still? I say no. This somewhat presupposes that the Big XII is going to fall apart, which is arguable, but just seems probable to me (and Tuberville).

UNL has the unmistakeable stench of failure attached to them now, when it comes to the Horns. They won’t beat Texas in October and, if they don’t implode after losing to Texas in the reg season, they’ll get their ass beat in the CCG too.

NU suffers from premature-fan-reaction.

Both teams have a lot to prove before they even get to this game.

That being said, I’m pumped. I hope we walk in to “their house”, put our feet up on the furniture, order pay-per-view, empty the fridge and leave a ten inch floater in the toilet.

“We’re leaving, because of 1) how the conference is run (largely by Texas’ fiat), and 2) because it isn’t clear whether the conference will still exist 10 years from now.”

If UNL is leaving because of reason 2, that is a perfectly rational decision. I’m not aware of anyone who really believes that the Big 12 will exist 10 years from now. If they saw the Big 10 as their ultimate destination anyway, then the decision is only about whether they care enough about the schools with whom they have shared a conference for many decades to hang on until everybody decides to go their own way.

If they are leaving because of reason 1, then they are just a bunch of whiny little bitches. The major decisions made by the conference are done by a vote of the 12 schools, not by “Texas’ fiat.” Generally, UT and UNL have voted the same way (on the distribution of TV revenue, for example). They really need to come up with a more rational basis for their leaving, if they are actually interested in people taking their reasoning seriously. If not, of course, then they can say whatever they want. They can claim that Nosferatu told them to leave the conference and they were afraid to resist.

I hate to inject any facts into this but this isn’t a Nebraska Athletic Department website. This little bit of stupid was manufactured and is wholly owned by the Omaha World Herald. They produced it and the website is registered to the paper. I know that NU’s football team wants to beat texas. I’m also sure they want to beat everyone else on the schedule also and I bet they are doing what they can to make that happen.

greentrees enjoys eating the b.s. Osborne has been pumping out. Alas, he’s not along among NU fans in that regard.

1. The Big 12 is run by Texas fiat.

We’ve only got one vote, same as you. When you’re continually the lone dissenting vote, then you should look yourself in the mirror & come to the realization that there’s something wrong w/ YOU, not everyone else. I get a kick out of the large turd of hypocrisy NU fans show in complaining about the other Big 12 North or old Big 8 schools’ loyalty, when NU is the party that bolts.

2. The Big 12’s future is shaky.

The Big 12 was fine until you NUmbNUts decided to run away scared.

“Adding comments has been disabled for this video.”

It’s Nebraska’s time now. We’ll beat UT on 10/16 and hopefully get ‘em a 2nd time at JerryWorld and put an exclamation point on our exit from the Texas Titanic Conference. It won’t be enough to even up the 1-8 record vs. the ‘Horns, but it’ll have to do.

The Big 12 was fine until you NUmbNUts decided to run away scared.

No the Big 12 was not fine.

Nebraska’s pulling up stakes sped up the pace, but this league was not going to survive any kind of expansion by any other league —which was inevitable.

“Nebraska’s pulling up stakes sped up the pace, but this league was not going to survive any kind of expansion by any other league –which was inevitable.”

This is the primary reason. I think Nebraska was butthurt by UT’s dominance of conference leadership, but the primary reason was conference stability. We had the opportunity to go to a strong and stable conference in our own neck of the woods. If the alternative is to stay in an unstable situation and roll the dice on the a future destination, I think we had to do what we did. And it isn’t about being afraid of Texas. It is, however, with knowledge that we aren’t Texas and that we aren’t the belle of the ball, who will always have a port in any storm. We struck while the iron was hot. I’m not sure how that equates to running for cover in a league where we can’t compete (but actually do).

Nebraska is making the right move. It’s a huge thing for their school, much less the football team. The Big 10 is the bees knees academically and their association will raise Nebraska’s academic profile considerably. What a huge boon for them.
 
I will miss Nebraska, because it’s big time football, even when they suck. Because they don’t celebrate first downs, or have high school cheers, or give off a small-timey vibe like so much of the rest of the league. I can’t really explain it beyond that. You know it when you see it.
 
Because it’s a great road trip.
 
Because their fans care and have some understanding of college football.
 
Because you can actually converse with some of them, unlike the mouth breathers that infest a lot of the other school boards.
 
So I will miss them no matter how delusional some of their fans are in explaining their reasons for going or how much weird posturing their administration does.
 
For me, it’s about the games. And playing Nebraska is fun.
 
They got a better deal that serves their interests. I tip my cap.

@ srr50 – I disagree. The Big 12 has turned out to be one of the top conferences in both FB & BB. The Big 12’s TV contracts were at/near the top when they were signed.

The Big 12 had a lot of potential since it was fed by the most fertile recruiting ground in the nation. Alas, a few schools couldn’t deal w/ their jealousies. The Big 12’s problems were internal, not external.

I think those NU fans who think that Texas dominated Big 12 politics are missing that one by a wide margin. Many Texas fans would say that Texas not only did/does not have much conference clout, but that the conference has been dominated by Stoops/OU, and allies of Stoops within the Big 12. With the departure of Leach and Mangino, and the impending departure of Pelini, I feel that Texas will be dealing with a bit less of a stacked deck.

Cutting through the BS, I think the root source of NU’s pique with Texas was/is simple. Texas has been dominating them in football, and there was no relief in sight. IMO, NU fans have been slow to recognize that their decline in football has not been because of some great Longhorn conspiracy. Instead, it’s been largely due to higher entry standards for athletes. Yes, Texas insisted on this as a prerequisite for formation of the Big 12. However, should an NU fan be angry at Texas for wanting higher standards for Big 12 student athletes? Since when is desiring excellence been a bad thing? Why shouldn’t NU fans want their University to have higher academic standards for it’s athletes?

The thing that NU fans may not understand is that the recruiting base that NU has been building in Texas is now going down the drain. Most Texas kids are not going to want to spend their entire college career playing in front of strangers. Where then will NU recruit? Big 10 states maybe? In that regard, here’s a stat to ponder. Last year, just Texas had almost as many kids sign Div 1 LOI’s as were signed in EVERY Big 10 state. I think that NU fans are going to wake up one day in 3 or 4 years, and realize that while the Big 10 may have meant more money, and probably more long-term stability, competitively they will be as bad off, or worse, than they were before. There’s going to be no resurgence of the “Big Red” in the Big 10.

I think it’s too bad that NU is bolting, because I loved game days in Lincoln. The NU fans, and the stadium atmosphere, were always top-drawer on both my trips there. I’ll miss it.

I’m with Scip in that I just can’t get that worked up about Nebraska leaving. They made a good deal for themselves.

Microhorn: Recruiting in Texas may get a little harder for NU, but if they were recruiting Texas before the B12, I think they can still do it. They’re still going to play six or seven games a year in Lincoln, like they always have, and they were playing only one game a year in Oklahoma, one game a year in Kansas.

It’s been, what a month? Have we already forgotten that NU left mostly because Beebe issued a two week ultimatum during a period in which it seemed likely the conference was imploding? Nebraska took its best option at the time. If we believed the conference was healthy and had some permanency, we would have stayed. No question. We might have bitched around the edges, but we would have stayed.

NU called Delany and begged for an offer AFTER the ultimatum was issued. NU/Big Ten talks had happened before then, sure, just like UT/Big Ten talks had happened.

It’s funny and sad to see history being rewritten this soon. The whole “NU left because…” conversations are somewhat comical. NU left the Big 12 because it was backed into a corner and didn’t want to be the last one standing in the game of musical chairs.

Oh, by the way, the video made me cringe. I spent 7 minutes trying to type some justifying words but I got nothin.’ Amateurish. The voiceover guy’s maturbatory grunting made me feel dirty.

After watching that I think i need to go to the game

I can see why NU would feel that way about the game and the rivalry. But, as we have seen from aggy, that kind of emotional approach can work both ways. NU isn’t aggy, starting with an actual winning tradition. But, if we get off to a hot start this could work against them.

The headline for this blog posting is simultaneously accurate and understated. There are, in fact, about 750,000 people here in Nebraska who would sell their front teeth and defraud their neighbors just to get into this game, for which there are about 85,000 available seats.

As a Nebraska fan, I’m pleased. We’ve lacked a genuine rival for fifteen years. The whole state has been chattering about this game since roughly 11 pm on December 5th of last year. I’d only ask that Longhorns fans display some understanding if our home fans are not as welcoming as usual. For my part, I will endeavor to Hate Texas as politely as I can.

Well then you can add yourselves to the list of teams that think of Texas as a rival. Unfortunately for you, Nebraska won’t have Texas as a rival anymore either.

But that Big Ten West will offer you some good rivalries with Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Northwestern. I think the Wisconsin one can be good in time.

So finally we have gotten to the point that Nebraska fans have found an opponent for which they won’t cheer at game’s end?

As I always suspected… if you get beaten enough, the attitude changes.

@ Matt – If Texas is a rival, why were you boys complaining about losing the OU game? It seems to me that y’all had the best of both worlds – alternating rivals from the Southern Division. No one in the South (or the North) had such a sweet set up.

@ Bob in Houston – Agreed. NU fans aren’t really any different than any other fan base. So much for the self-proclaimed “classiest fans in America.”

Bob-
If that were the case, we wouldn’t have cheered for OU between 1972 and 1988. They killed us, and in the worst ways possible, by close scores and in unimaginable moments. Our series with you guys ‘96 has been like that, I presume (I wasn’t old enough in the 80s to know). Anyway, I don’t think anyone harbors any lasting anger toward Texas for on-field experiences. We’ll be happy to beat you guys once or twice (hopefully) this year, but no hard feelings. Seriously. You guys aren’t unique to Husker history. Just painful.

It will undoubtedly be unfortunate to not play Texas again for quite a while. I’ve always enjoyed your fans at our home games. And I’ll miss never having been able to go a Husker game in Austin. I always thought Texas fans were stand-up folks who didn’t harbor any ill will, unlike a wide variety of teams with short-term success (as well as the newer OU fans). It’s unfortunate how this came down, but we ultimately had to do what is in our long-term interest. I don’t think that anyone can argue that we’ve accomplished that.

@ srr50 – I disagree. The Big 12 has turned out to be one of the top conferences in both FB & BB. The Big 12′s TV contracts were at/near the top when they were signed.

The Big 12 had a lot of potential since it was fed by the most fertile recruiting ground in the nation. Alas, a few schools couldn’t deal w/ their jealousies. The Big 12′s problems were internal, not external.

Again this is not about on the field results. The Big 12 contracts were not at/near the top now — in fact the Big 12 ranked 4th among the BCS conferences in TV contracts. The current life-saving contracts that are promised are smoke and mirrors and will not give this league sustainability.

There are valid reasons as to why Texas built its own TV facilities and why we were more than willing to listen to the Pac 10.

Recruiting means nothing to the media viability of a conference, and this Bi 12 will last no more than 3-5. A Big 12 with Nebraska wouldn’t have survived the next round of expansion by the Big 10 no matter who went.

I have serious doubts about the long-term viability of a conference whose population base consists of retired baby-boomers and young folks emigrating to the South and the West. Conference strength isn’t something created when the conference is established. It’s forged through decades of sticking together. Nebraska can claim they’re moving to a better situation, but I don’t buy it. They’re competing against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa and will now have considerably diminished recruiting power.

Nebraska should have dominated the Big XII North year-in and year-out like Texas and OU did for the South. And truthfully, it wasn’t the losses to those schools that did them in. It was the losses to the likes of Missouri, Tech, Kansas, and other middle-of-the-road programs. Well, the Big Ten is full of middle-of-the-road programs. Have trouble with Iowa State? Meet Purdue. Can’t beat Kansas? Here comes Minnesota. But when you’re tired of being 3rd or 4th best in the Big Ten, you’ll have to blame Ohio State.

Hopefully the people that you meet in Lincoln this fall are the fans that respect the game and the opponent, not the trolls that have nothing better to do than stir the pot online. By the way, nice 3 part exit series.

GBR!

Bob

I have a feeling that Mack Brown and Greg Davis might approach this game like the Tech game in 2008: Gee, our kids just came through a real tough stretch of games so let’s ease up on them a bit and while we’re at it, let’s begin the game against rabid, fire eating, hate filled defenders with some of our standard, predicatable and stale play calling. The Pelini boys will shove their defense down GD’s throat in this one, especially since the offense has no proven playmakers, new faces on the OL, a new scheme and a WR corps which drops too damn many well-thrown passes. No Quan and no Ship = big trouble. The NU hates Texas campaign may be the best thing that could have happened to the Longhorns because they might just be attentive and prepared to play from the first whistle in this one.

As for the defense, Muschamp has his men ready just about every time out, and he will have a field day with Nebraska propaganda efforts.

The Big 12 had a lot of potential since it was fed by the most fertile recruiting ground in the nation.

Not even close.

I personally know many Husker fans that watched you guys win in our building to end our 47 game home win streak, and they did indeed cheer the Horns after the game. We do respect our opponents and we have no problem showing that. We are now a program on the rebound and I’m sure you all understand why we want to beat you guys more than most teams – you have been at the top. And when you’re on top everybody wants to knock you off.

But, I have no doubt in my mind that our game with you in October will be hard fought as always, and as always may the best team win. Go Huskers, Go Big Red!

“Have trouble with Iowa State? Meet Purdue. Can’t beat Kansas? Here comes Minnesota.”
Nebraska is 38-2 against Kansas in the last 40 meetings.
Nebraska is 35-6-1 against Iowa State in the last 42 meetings.
We had a coach/AD drive our program into the ground for 4 years. Don’t let a snapshot of those 4 years skew your view of the entire history of the program. You’re better than that (or at least you claim to be).

If you want to know the difference between the fans that have class and those that don’t, read the comments of the fans of the team that will be visiting Lincoln on October 16. Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten will not always be the easiest road, but I think our fans will enjoy the ride.

Let’s talk in ten years when the Big XII conference is but a distant memory.