Husker Football: A Letter to The Sea of Red

To Husker Football Fans Everywhere,

First and foremost, congrats to the players and coaches. I think I speak for us all when I say that. Their 41-31 victory was a solid effort in closing out the non-conference schedule without a loss for the first time since 2011.

Next, I want to say congratulations to all of the fans. Your showing this past Saturday was fantastic. As a fan of both football and the Huskers, I appreciate the efforts of the other 91,584 people in the crowd making the game day experience as good as it could possibly be.

At Saturday night around 6:50 p.m, I glanced to my direct right and noticed something I hadn’t seen before. The student section was pretty much full to the top. During the previous home games, there was a large block of empty seats near the top of the south end zone. By halftime, a good number more had cleared out of the section.

Boneyard towel from the Miami/Nebraska game on September 20. Photo by Andrew Bienka.

I’ve made no bones (get it?) about my problems with Nebraska’s student section via Twitter. At least for one night, I was wrong.

“The Boneyard” put on a show. With the vast majority of them clad in their black shirts for the Blackout planned, they stood and cheered throughout the game.

They also waved their scarlet-colored rally towels above their heads.

The choreography from the students was extremely well done. “Welcome to your worst nightmare!,” it exclaimed. That it was, at least for the Miami Hurricanes.

The crowd as a whole was raucous, attentive and better yet, the vast majority stayed for the entire game (shame on the four people sitting directly in front of me who left with ten minutes to go).

There were at least 90,000 people in the stands cheering as loudly as they could with minutes left as Miami’s offense attempted (and then scored) their final touchdown to close the gap to 10 points.

Then something strange happened. I’ve been going to Husker football games for the better part of 20 years. I’ve heard fans boo an opposing team onto the field prior to the game, but I never recalled one being booed off of it.

To paraphrase a line from The Incredible Hulk, ‘You won’t like us when we’re angry.’

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It was strange hearing it as Husker fans have long been known to applaud the opposing team off the field, win or lose. Perhaps it was the multitude of personal fouls perpetrated by ‘The U’?

Maybe it was the middle finger salute from a Miami offensive lineman? Either way, it was clear that the Sea of Red had boiled over.

Maybe that is what it will take for us, as Husker football fans, to rev things up and make it that type of atmosphere every game. Miami won’t be walking through the south stadium tunnel every week, nor will Ohio State or Michigan.

It’s up to the fan base, from the youngest to the oldest, to make it that type of atmosphere every week.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, maybe you’ll listen to head coach Bo Pelini:

"“I challenge the crowd: Let’s get that every week,” he said. “The same way I challenge it to myself, the coaches, the players. You can’t ride the highs and lows in this deal. You can’t pick and choose. It’s got to be the same approach every week. I hope and trust it’s going to be the same way as far as the crowd is concerned in their approach.” – Lincoln Journal Star"

Nebraska fans, we expect the best out of the team and coaches each week, and now you know they expect the same out of us. Can we answer the call? I, for one, am looking forward to trying to do just that.

Thank you again, Sea of Red, for making my experience a memorable one on Saturday night. It wasn’t my first game and it certainly won’t be my last, but it will always have a special spot in my Big Red football memories. Here’s to many more just like it.

Thanks-
Andrew Bienka

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