Game 11: Nebraska 30 Colorado 3
Wow. Wow. Wow. I have never been so impressed by a Nebraska team in a long long long LONG time. After CU’s first play from scrimmage (a 45 yard run on that damn counter play that we were burned on over and over again in ‘01) it was ALL Nebraska. Nebraska dominated in all phases of the game. Offence, Defence and Special Teams. This is the one game that Nebraska has been looking for since the end of the Solich era. The one game where a Nebraska team put it all together and played thier best in the WCO. I really do believe that this will be the stepping stone that this team needs to take it to the next step. I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing because many people when scouting the last three games of the year thought we’d go 2-1...but remember this was supposed to be the lone loss, not KU. I think this makes the win just that much sweeter because many have thought that this game was a given L. Everyone in Nebraska has to be impressed with this win and has to feel proud of this team the way that they dominated.
As for the Colorado fans, well...I have never been to CU so I really can’t speak for personel experience. The thought around the Big XII is that CU has some of the worst fans. And they lived up to that on national TV on Friday. Not only did the CU fans treat the fans in red badly but when they got down and realized that they had just laid an egg to a team they could have easily beat, their student section went above and beyond bad. Throwing stuff onto the fie
ld and to a point where the game had to be stopped. At one point I thought that Callahan and Co. would have to evacuate the field. And yes, they kicked out 2 sections of students. TWO WHOLE SECTIONS. I’d say roughly 1000 people, and that might be an understatement. I have NEVER seen a MASS ejection of fans in my life. But Nebraska fans, don’t think of yourselfs as high and mighty. I stood in the SE corner in Memorial Stadium near the end of the OU game and there were things thrown from our student section onto the field. Now it was probably more frequent at CU but don’t think that that sort of thing doesn’t happen here. CU’s fans aren’t as bad as they were panted on Friday but it certainly was an embarassment.
Now NU can hang thier hat that they beat both the #1 and #3 teams in the Big XII north. It is a bit dissapointing though that Nebraska waited until they were eliminated from the race to put their best game together. And you also play the “what if...” game because, What if LeKevin Smith had fallen down and we beat TTech? What if we have a couple holding calls for us in the loss vs. OU? What if we don’t lay an egg at KU? We could have easily clinched the North title Friday. While dissapointing that we’re not there you can’t say that we haven’t improved. Now would we have a chance vs. Tex-ass? No, probably not. But it still would be a great boost to the program to play in that game. It’s what the NU fans want, to play in the big games.
Now Nebraska goes bowling. Many fans are talking about the Holiday bowl. I just don’t see it. The Holiday bowl is to high of a bowl game to go to. The Alamo bowl is a distinct possibility but so is the Independence, Houston and Champs Sports bowl. We have to wait to see if CU what they do vs. Texas in the Big XII title game. If CU can not embarass there selves vs. Tex-ass they will probably get the Alamo Bowl birth but if they just lay over and die I think NU moves ahead of them in terms of being attractive towards the bowls. Now NU fans will travel to attractive places like San Antonio or San Diego. While Shreveport might not be the most attrative destination, not going bowling last year has probably given people a new appreciation for the bowl system and I see a lot of big red people traveling.
The Comments
Mr. Wilson November 28, 2005 at 12:02pm
I don’t care so much about which bowl we go to as who we play once we’re there. I just don’t want the Huskers to end up with a cupcake opponent. If our bowl game is really going to serve as a barometer for next season, I think we need to play a reasonably challenging game. And we need to win, of course. But that goes without saying.