Go Big Red is the thing

by Ken Hambleton

New coach. Matt Rhule. “What will win at Nebraska,” he said.

New recruits. New transfers. “We made some real strides in recruiting.”

New approach. Rhule said, “Figure out what we do well and do it.”

Same enthusiasm, fan base, and hope.

Football, the dominant sport in Nebraska, is still the focus for sports fans despite losing seasons and a long string of bowless winters.

Nebraska is still the seventh-winningest college football team of all time. The sellout string at Memorial Stadium started in October 1962 and sets a college record for every home game.

Bob Devaney set the Husker dominance in motion, starting in 1962. He won two national titles. His former graduate assistant, then offensive coordinator, Tom Osborne, won three national titles and clamped onto an incredible record (255-49-3) in his 25 years as head coach at Nebraska.

Osborne’s successor, Frank Solich, took NU to a national championship game and, after more than 20 years away from Lincoln, was hailed in a triumphant return to town last spring.

Go Big Red is the thing in Lincoln, Scottsbluff, and everywhere.

It’s a cheer and a roar, a feeling, a passion that grabs everybody in the state capital and never slows and rarely dims.

“Get ready for the crowd noise,” Rhule said. “It’ll be there. It’ll be loud. It’ll be fun.”

The famous Huskers, going back to Coach Jimbo Steihm and Dana X. Bible, and players such as George Flippin, the first black athlete in college sports west of the Mississippi River, Guy Chamberlin, Bobby Reynolds, Tom Novak, and Bob Brown, are all still a part of the Big Red passion.

Heisman Trophy winners: Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, and Eric Crouch; Outland Trophy winner Dave Rimington, hailed as one of the greatest college offensive linemen ever, dozens of All-Americans, scores of conference championships, winner of the “Game of the Century” in 1970 in Norman, Oklahoma, and all those fans in red make Husker football the center of the universe for millions.

Now, Matt Rhule and new staff work under new rules for the transfer portal (allowing unlimited transfers for players), and the NIL (names, images, and likeness) may have fuzzed the focus, but the intent and the tradition in Nebraska football lives on.

Rhule, who turned around programs at Temple and Baylor and coached the Carolina Panthers, is the latest Husker coach to reach into past glories and current expectations. Local radio stations, newspapers, and TV all boast of the chargeback to glory and tradition almost every day of the year, no matter the current sports season.

“When I think about Nebraska, I think about that helmet and all that means. Are we being talked about? I don’t want fans coming to our games because we’re Nebraska football. I want them coming because of who we are, how we play, and who we are.”

Rhule fired up the fans, heavily emphasizing recruiting in-state and spotting talent nationwide.

“They are fast,” Rhule said of his newcomers. “It’s so to get up and go to practice. It’ll be more fun to get his team going for all these fans. We don’t just play for ourselves. We play for the University of Nebraska and the State of Nebraska.  

“We’re going to win with the older players, but the younger players will help us.”

Rhule added, “The players have a sense of ‘Hey, let’s get this done.’ They are sick and tired of being sick and tired. I owe it to the University of Nebraska to go all in. I expect my players to do the same.”

He has rebuilt the strength program and the team discipline and worked to build confidence. Recruits have responded. Fans are expected to respond
as well.

“I am getting a chance to coach at Nebraska, and I’m going to make the most of it,” Rhule said. “The fans deserve that. Here’s a vision. We want to share that with the players, Nebraska, and everyone who follows us.”

So, the fans who traveled by train to see the first Nebraska football game, in 1890 in Omaha against the Omaha YMCA, the thousands who made it to Hawaii in 1971, in the largest population (not including war) move in history, should, can, and will expect the best from Nebraska.