My personal experience with Nebraska fans has been the great turn around.
For decades they unquestionably had the best fans in America. I was at the CU-Nebraska game in Boulder in 1995, one of NU's national title years. The crowd was pretty close to 50/50 and was a true Husker beat down. The CU people did not leave however. They stayed so that they could scream, cuss, throw things and cement their reputation as horrible fans and excuses for human beings.
I had my Texas jacket and cap on in Boulder that day, with a red "N" button pinned on the front. Also a red/white shaker in my back pocket. Had a couple of dozen Husker fans introduce themselves through the course of the day/game/tailgate, etc., and talk excitedly about the formation of the Big 12 the following year. It was a great experience. And I still say that Vince Young is a big, tall, fast Tommie Frazier. And they both got robbed of Heisman's.
A year later, we were 3 screaming orange dots, in a Sea of Red, as Derek Lewis ran straight towards us on "Roll Left". After watching their chance for a 3rd straight national title come to an end in crushing fashion, I found their fans to be the most gracious I had ever seen. After the game, that night at dinner, turning in the rental car, and at the airport, they came in droves to say "congratulations", and a phrase I still hold close, "they played like champions". Damn. These people know what a champion looks like. I didn't think I could ever be as impressed by a fan base. Fast forward two years to a cold, windy Halloween afternoon in 1998. The Ricky Heisman Game. They had not lost at home in a decade. And now they get throat punched by Major, Ricky, Mack and a defense that had to remind them of some of Switzer's in the 1980's. Everything you have ever heard about playing and winning up there was true.
ESPN Game Day and the Big Red come to Austin in 1999. Many will always remember it for Matthew playing the bongos later that night. Or students in the Peace Fountain after the game. I'll always remember that we played and beat a vastly superior team 24-20, and likely knocked them out of another national title game. They certainly returned the favor a month later in the Big 12 Championship game.
Then the programs headed in opposite directions. We won 6 in a row. There was the one blow out in 2003, 31-7. But the others were gut wrenching losses. In 2002 we are leading 27-24 and they are on our 15 yard line with 15 seconds left. Solich decides to throw once more before letting his kicker put it in OT. Intercepted at the one!! Then 2006 with VY in the stands freezing, we kick the winning FG in the final seconds, 22-20, in the snow flurries after NU fumbles on a converted 3rd down that would have iced it. A year later, a 17-3 Husker lead disappears as Jamal Charles rushes for 206 yards IN THE FOURTH QUARTER, for a 28-25 Texas win.
Then the officials put one second back on the clock. The FG is good and the Horns win 13-12 and head back to Pasadena. For the Husker Nation, that was enough. Enough of Texas. Enough of the Big 12. They took their ball and went to the Big 10. Where now they are Northwestern's *****. Just for good measure, we played again in 2010. You would think beating a 7 loss team that had given up on it's coach would be easy. Guess again, only a late, freak touchdown made the score of 20-13 look competitive. My personal experience's with Husker fans went downhill with each of the losses. And that says a lot. Because I'm a great fan; modest in victory and gracious in defeat. Crap I even congratulated some Ohio State fans. Congratulated them and told them "they played like champions".
And I'm sorry about the NU people. I liked liking them. I loved the offense. I love watching teams go up to the line of scrimmage, knock people over, and run off tackle. But I will always have the great memories of those early years.
P.S. - During the Big 12 title game in 1996, as they measure (a bad spot) to set up the 4th down, the delightful Husker Grandmother that sat beside us and had chatted with all game long, says of Mackovic "Surely he isn't going to go for it??!!!??". I replied, "Oh he isn't just going to go for it, he REALLY REALLY REALLY wants to throw the ball". When Priest Holmes walks in two plays later, her 9 year old grand daughter says, "Mawmaw, they have only punted once all game. Has that ever happened before"?
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