Can we talk about Nebraska?...

[LarryISU]

Nebraska still has name recognition for people over 45, but if they don't do something in the next 5 to 10 years even that is going to be gone. And Coach Riley is not the guy to get them where they want to go, IMO. I predict he will be gone after a couple more years. Only then if they can lure a really big-name coach to Lincoln will they ever return to the sort of glory their fans still believe they deserve.

The only real claim to fame they have right now is their sell-out streak. But they keep that alive through artifical means, so to speak, as they have several big names on a call list that they go to when a game is not sold out and those donors step up and buy the remaining tickets. So the streak is legit, but not as impressive as if they actually had 90,000 fans wanting to pay to go see them play every game regardless of the opponent.

So in general, the OP has a good point, moving to the Big Ten has not helped their image or their win/loss record. For now anyway they perhaps get a little more money from the BIG, but you can't really even say that because if they were in the Big 12 I think they could make millions on third-tier broadcasts.

As someone who lives in Nebraska, I for one will never forget the huge majority of Husker fans who took great delight back when the Big 12 was down to 8 teams, just laughing with joy that teams like Iowa State and K State were going to end up with no conference. Even my neighbor across the street saw me one day out getting my mail and yelled over to me, "I hope you enjoy playing in the MAC." Just pathetic, how does that help Nebraska if Iowa State goes to the MAC? You really take joy in someone else's misery? This from the often self-proclaimed "world's greatest fans." Sorry Jared, but just calling it as I see it.

 

[Gorm]

I disagree with this completely. Nebraska lost their Texas and Oklahoma player pipeline by switching to the Big10. They had a history of winning, which made those players want to go to NU if they didn't go to UT or OU. THAT is what's caught up to them. And as we begin to win hopefully we can begin to steer players our direction from those states.

https://www.landof10.com/nebraska/nebraska-football-schedule-2020-2021-what-it-means

 

[ribsnwhiskey]

They are a volleyball school.

I do notice a BIG difference in how their fans in the Twin Cities follow them. Back in their Big 12 heyday they had a huge and zealot following here. Back when it wasn't easy to get all of the games on TV they would host pay per view gamewatches at Joe Senser's Sports bar and have several hundred fans in there complete with their own pep band (no, really, their own PEP BAND in a bar). When I used to plan ISU gamewatches at the same venue I'd have to move to a different location if at the same time as the Huskers. Today, nope, they don't draw any more than we do.

I was going to say they are a basketball school now, seeing as how they have top 11 attendance but winning helps, so you are right.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

- NCAA institutes scholarship limits
- Big 12 formation with the addition of TX schools decides to limit the number of partial qualifiers a program can take on (presume Big 10 does the same)
- Bill Callahan replaces Frank Solich for more "NFL" and less "9 win seasons"
- Bo Pelini creates more mess than he cleans up
- Jim Delany agrees to offer Nebraska a spot in the Big10 and Harvey Perlman accepts. The school has a rich football tradition, but one that is foreign to all Big10 programs. The N now stands for knowledge because of the academic standards forced upon them. The N on the helmet doesn't mean much to the traditional Big10 teams, and probably does not bring with it the aura it carried in the Big6/8/12 due to lack of familiarity and recent history. Instead, the N is seen as an interloper or invader and most teams want to haze the freshman if they can. Sure they won the Legends division that one time, but they got their asses whipped by Wisconsin 70-31 in the title game.
...
- Geography

Nebraska football is sailing on a heading that will put them back where they were before they found Bob Devaney.

IMO Nebraska was destined to take a step back just due to the TV contracts as we know them today. During their hay day Nebraska was able to sell a recruits parents out on the west coast that they will be able to watch their son play on national TV every week. Now every P5 program can make the same sales pitch.

I remember when everyone said that NU, Mizzou, and CU would miss their Texas recruiting ties and they definitely do. I looked the numbers up a few weeks ago regarding Texas kids signed during the Big 12 days compared to the B1G days and it was pretty glaring that they have had to walk away from what was their go to recruiting area.

 

[laminak]

As someone who lives in Nebraska, I for one will never forget the huge majority of Husker fans who took great delight back when the Big 12 was down to 8 teams, just laughing with joy that teams like Iowa State and K State were going to end up with no conference. Even my neighbor across the street saw me one day out getting my mail and yelled over to me, "I hope you enjoy playing in the MAC." Just pathetic, how does that help Nebraska if Iowa State goes to the MAC? You really take joy in someone else's misery? This from the often self-proclaimed "world's greatest fans." Sorry Jared, but just calling it as I see it.

From what I recall from past online comments, Husker fans took joy in the demise of the Big 12 and its schools due to Texas and all of the other schools voting for Texas-backed issues vs Nebraska and not sticking up for them.

(I'm not agreeing with this, just giving a past observation.)

 

[CF_Cyclone]

I have several friends who are Huskers. I heard countless rants about how much they hated Texas and to a lesser extent Oklahoma, and felt that the Big 12 did those 2 teams favors at the expense of the rest of the league. I told them when they left that if they didn't think that OSU runs the B1G the same way they thought Texas ran the Big12, that they were in for a rude awakening.

They sure seem to have accepted their B1G overlords, and do as they are told. It could be worse, they could be Missouri.

I grew up in western Iowa and have several friends and family members who are Husker fans and the thing I heard when they left is they won't have to deal with Texas and OU. Told them that the BIG is no different in that OSU, MU, and at that time PSU controlled everything. To me the main reason they left the Big 12 was the Osborne was the AD at the time, and he never liked Texas, and really did not want them in the conference, so the first chance he had the control and ability he moved out.

 

[Bret44]

Nebraska is never coming back. They are going to stay at the 8-4 range forever in the B1G West. 5-7 in the bad years, maybe a 10-2 year once in a blue moon. Them and Iowa will be interchangeable in the eyes of the nation from here on out.

 

[jbhtexas]

I disagree with this completely. Nebraska lost their Texas and Oklahoma player pipeline by switching to the Big10. They had a history of winning, which made those players want to go to NU if they didn't go to UT or OU. THAT is what's caught up to them. And as we begin to win hopefully we can begin to steer players our direction from those states.

This is what I was getting at when I asked the question above. NU thought they would just plop their "big name" program into the Big Ten recruiting footprint and continue to pull in talent equivalent to what they were getting from OK and TX. Not so much...

 

[247cy]

IMO Nebraska was destined to take a step back just due to the TV contracts as we know them today. During their hay day Nebraska was able to sell a recruits parents out on the west coast that they will be able to watch their son play on national TV every week. Now every P5 program can make the same sales pitch.

I remember when everyone said that NU, Mizzou, and CU would miss their Texas recruiting ties and they definitely do. I looked the numbers up a few weeks ago regarding Texas kids signed during the Big 12 days compared to the B1G days and it was pretty glaring that they have had to walk away from what was their go to recruiting area.

I agree, but my NU friends still contend they are a NATIONAL program and because of the N the conference they belong to doesn't matter. The geography of winning is centered in Lincoln for some - they're delusional. They think they're the Notre Dame of the midwest, except they're not Catholic and they don't have their own TV contact. I'd say most 18 year olds today have no idea NU was good.

I live in KC and barely know what MU is doing... I've watched more TTU games than MU games since they've left. Same goes for NU, CU, TAM.... out of sight, out of mind. It'd be different if they were Alabama good, or Ohio State good, or Clemson good, but they're not so....

 

[dinger]

Not necessarily to bash (feel free) but your observations.

I just find their whole zeitgeist to have changed since joining the big ten. Their fans seem to embrace their role as a big ten also ran and Iowa rival at best. That is a far cry...a gulf from twenty years ago. Riley doesn't seem to care about losing...the defense isn't even very good much less "blackshirty". There is nothing remarkable about Nebraska at all anymore.

Maybe it's my age but I'm not sure I've witnessed this sort of thing before. It's weird.

Not nearly enough of this in this thread. 247cy is on the right track.

 

[CycloneWarning]

Would be fun to play them (and beat them) in a bowl game some day.

 

[GoCubsGo]

What do you mean by this?

This is an oversimplification, but it basically means, given the location of Nebraska, it is relatively more difficult to have either sustained or occasional success there than it is in places that have more "favorable" locations - with greater population densities or warmer climate, for example.

 

[weR138]

Nebraska is never coming back. They are going to stay at the 8-4 range forever in the B1G West. 5-7 in the bad years, maybe a 10-2 year once in a blue moon. Them and Iowa will be interchangeable in the eyes of the nation from here on out.

Exactly right. But what's odd to me is that I haven't been face to face with any Nebraska fans (admittedly a small sample size of a handful) who care. They're Iowa now at best and know as much. To acknowledge that would have been heresy just ten years ago where I grew up. Now it's a legit rivalry. The expectation of conference championships is gone. Heck, I know people personally who used to take close UNL wins as losses. That's all gone.

Can you imagine tOSU moving to the SEC, tanking, and then all their fans just shrugging it off? Well Neb fans used to consider their football team as better than tOSU every year.

 

[mj4cy]

Hope Nebraska enjoys the few extra dollars.......I bet behind closed doors they miss playing Kansas State/OU/Texas ect.

 

[CyCrazy]

Im still waiting for the day when a sold out memorial stadium is swallowed by a massive sink hole. **** Nebby.

 

[Acylum]

It almost seems like we're getting better recruits out of B1G territory than they are.

 

[tejasclone]

From what I recall from past online comments, Husker fans took joy in the demise of the Big 12 and its schools due to Texas and all of the other schools voting for Texas-backed issues vs Nebraska and not sticking up for them.

(I'm not agreeing with this, just giving a past observation.)

Husker fans should be accosting their own AD, who voted WITH Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma against revenue sharing because Nebraska wanted theirs and didn't want to dilute their income by sharing it with also-rans like Iowa State and Texas Tech.

When their empire crumbled by their own doing and Texas filled the power vacuum, Nebraska (and A&M and, so far unsuccessfully, Oklahoma) turned like a jilted lover looking for solace from another willing hand.

That their fans have totally swallowed their current station in the Big Ten just demonstrates that it's more important that they adhere to their tribe than to any particular value system.

 

[SCyclone]

I'm old enough to remember when it was referred to as the Big 2 and Little 6. Nebby lived on recruiting every single corn-fed Nebraska farm boy who grew up dreaming of being a Fusker someday. Osborne vs. Switzer. It was like Michigan/Ohio State or Alabama/Auburn.

Now??? Even though, like Janny says, they're still all up their own asses, they're just another team. They don't play the 3:30 games, because they aren't germane to the FBS scene. And that's gotta drive those poor people in Lincoln bat-**** crazy, because in that town all they have is football.

 

[Bestaluckcy]

Good thing Nebraska and Iowa ended the "Hero's" game. It was out of character for both teams.

 

[KnappShack]

Talk about Nebraska.

Why?

No one else is