For the most part, it was the deadest I have seen in 32 years of attending husker games. Pretty sad. I am talking about the bars, tailgating, etc... It is not the same and nowhere close. I had these observations BEFORE the game. Not expected, but not a surprise.
I went to the game and tailgated
- Thread starter cHUCK001
- Start date
1) We're not top-10 relevant and we haven't been consistently top-10 relevant in about 18 years. We've had 4 head coaches since Tom Osborne retired in 1997.
2) There's a generational shift of Nebraska fans occurring where the babies who were born in the mid-90s that grew up hearing from their parents about how amazing we were. Those 90s kids could be the last of the true die-hard fans unless we get . If Nebraska doesn't rise in the next few years, what are those 90s babies going to tell their kids? How good our parents said we were 40 years ago? We will always have a loyal fan base because we don't have any professional sports teams but especially with the advancement of the tech industries, I believe a drop-off of young Nebraska loyalists is coming.
3) You may ask, what about the fans who go down to Lincoln and who still remember the 90s? See #1.
4) Yes it might be sad. I hope and pray for Nebraska football to win Championship #6 at least once a week.
2) There's a generational shift of Nebraska fans occurring where the babies who were born in the mid-90s that grew up hearing from their parents about how amazing we were. Those 90s kids could be the last of the true die-hard fans unless we get . If Nebraska doesn't rise in the next few years, what are those 90s babies going to tell their kids? How good our parents said we were 40 years ago? We will always have a loyal fan base because we don't have any professional sports teams but especially with the advancement of the tech industries, I believe a drop-off of young Nebraska loyalists is coming.
3) You may ask, what about the fans who go down to Lincoln and who still remember the 90s? See #1.
4) Yes it might be sad. I hope and pray for Nebraska football to win Championship #6 at least once a week.
Last edited:
Well said. Exactly right. It did not shock me. A lot of fans were talking about it all night. I had fun anyway, however, it was not the same. Win something and it might come back. From what I saw tonight, it will be a long time before that happens.
While I agree with your statements I made some needed corrections according to my observations:
1. Change Top 10 to Top 25 . We've finished unranked the past 4 seasons and haven't finished in the Top 20 since 2010. Saying we aren't a Top 10 caliber program is being way too generous. We are and have been irrelevant. Many of us long time fans feared this day would come. Well, it's here.
2. I agree 100%. The drop-off of young fans is coming and it will get here faster unless the winning returns.
3. I agree.
4.Not sad, but please pray harder....haha
A win at Oregon would change the energy level after last night's performance, but it isn't going to give this program national relevence. That has to be built back up over time and we are nowhere near even getting started on that. Oregon is a mid level Pac-12 team with a new HC. Just because they put 77 on Southern Utah doesn't mean they are "back". Calling year 3 of this Riley experiment a "reboot" doesn't excuse Nebraska going out to Eugene and get beat like a drum either.
I disagree.
1) As much I like to blame millennials, it's not the younger generation who plays the lame card at games. It's the 30 to 50 year olds. The younger generation were the only fun crowd last night. Sitting at my tailgate and the bands playing the fight song and everyone sitting around me was acting like the band was interrupting their tailgate. Like WTF. No one is singing. No one is cheering... then inside the game 90% of my section left in the middle of the 4th quarter when we were up 14. The game was obviously not over. And these were mostly all non-millennials that left. That didn't cheer.
2) stating it's due to not winning titles is BS. I live in SEC country. I've been to tailgates at South Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. They havent won crap in a long time either. SC & Arkansas never really have. Their games are still loud. They still cheer Rocky Top & Woo pig sooie. And loud. Go to Arkansas, basically anywhere and just say woo pig & random people will recall sooie. Same in eastern Tennessee, just say 'good ole rocky top', you'll get a response of "rocky top Tennessee"...
Blame the millennials. Blame losing. My view is it's the gen X who grew up spoiled are too busy thinking of what was and not just freaking enjoying the moment.
I definitely respect your opinion and see where you're coming from. I have immediate family who are Arkansas die-hards and I know they don't mess around when it comes to Woo Pig Sooie. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing because your points are fair. I will say, however, that the SEC fan bases are a different animal when comparing the majority of the Big Ten fan bases to all of theirs. Winning and losing is such a hard variable to account for from a branding and marketing standpoint. Everyone has a megaphone on social channels now.
I do agree though, with you that the fans who experienced so much success in the 90s could be the culprit.
Well I went to the game too, bars, tailgating and have a near opposite reaction. Couldn't believe the energy and noise around me. Get different seats.
Arkansas averages under 70k and SC under 80k per game and don't fill their stadiums. Plenty of people are choosing to spend their Saturday's elsewhere
It's not the size of the crowd that matters. It's what that crowd does that matters. And though those teams don't sell out or maybe have as big of stadiums, they are loud and fun when they go.
Also, love how I pointed out 3 teams and you stayed away from the Vols in your post. Why was that? They are probably the most parallel program to NU of the ones I quoted
Tennesee doesn't sell out. And you are right I left out Tennessee. I was giving you credit for being correct on 1 of the 3 programs you mentioned - 33% - an F any way you slice it. Winking
It's likely some of both. My daughter is 24 and we have attended at least one Husker game together annually since she was 10. Last year as we did the walk of shame out of the Iowa game we received many "pity" pats on the back telling us to keep our heads up. This year I texted her about games we could attend and she suggested finding another activity to do together. She may be an anomoly, but I'm guessing there will be more who decide to not spend their money for the current Husker product.
To me, lame opening games never breed a ton of excitement with the mid/casual fans. That and it being a holiday weekend had many doing other activites