The identity of a fanbase over time

In 1982 Nebraska arguably had the best team in the country and had a legit shot at a national title. We played Penn State and on paper they won, though it involved a horrific call with a catch almost 2 yards out of bounds. Nebraska was screwed over. People were upset and they talked about it, but our coach wasn’t one to bitch. He took the moral high ground. He just did his best to get a national title the next year rather then focusing on the past. The 1983 Huskers set a then all-time NCAA record for best college offense of all time if I recall. They get to a bowl game with a shot to win the national title. They can walk away with a tie and most likely the national title because they were the best team all year, but they go for 2 because that was simply what Osborne did. He wanted a clear win and trusted his players to succeed.

For fans too young to remember, there were fans who wanted Osborne fired and thought he was incapable of winning the big game. After titles in 1971 and 1972, people were disappointed to see Osborne fall short of #1 when we’d lose to Penn State, Oklahoma, Miami, etc. Osborne wasn’t interested in backing into titles even though his job was on the line.

Nebraska spent decades famous as having perhaps the best fans in all of college football.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a college football team get screwed out of a national title more than the 1993 Huskers, but instead of bitching, the team was determined to do more the next year and not allow for bad breaks in a close game cost them. That mentality of moving forward rather than bitching gave us the 1994, 1994 and 1997 teams.

We were still in the title discussion in 1996 and 1999 as well and landed in another title game in 2000.

Now I do believe the Big XII refs really did have it out for Pelini, maybe because of his reputation and how he yelled at refs. Maybe it was because we were leaving the conference. But we did get screwed over pretty bad.

As the face of the franchise, Pelini didn’t act like Osborne and take it on the chin and move forward. He got angry and bitched. And so did we. Fans around the country saw Nebraska as a bunch of whiners.

This past year as Frost fought to play regardless of COVID-19, people’s reactions were split. Some believed him to be a hero, and others thought he was irresponsible and whining.

When the Big Ten Conference set rules for everyone this year of no non-conference games, now fans are complaining that we’re victims that the conference is just upholding the rules they established for everyone. There are tons of bad targeting calls across all of college football, but that is largely how everyone is calling it. The announcers mentioned that even Ohio State fans could agree, because they too have been screwed over by bad targeting calls. That isn’t a conspiracy of the conference hating Nebraska. That is just something we’re overreacting on and not calling appropriately.

The Husker fan base is very different today than it was in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. It is a shame because I don’t think the national audience of college football fans respects us as much, and the media certainly doesn’t.

I see a lot of fans constantly whining and crying conspiracy. Maybe the Big XII conspired to screw us over, but that shouldn’t mean that we distrust everyone and play the victim at every turn.

Scott Frost wants to bring Nebraska football back to closer to the mentality and type of program that Tom Osborne ran. But I think we as fans need to consider what our mentality and identity should be. How do we want this fan base to be seen by the outside world?

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