Nebraska is thinking pink during Friday's showdown with Minnesota

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and the Nebraska football team has found a very special way to bring more attention to a cause that affects so many families across the college football world, the United States, and the globe every single day. In fact, it appears that after announcing that the Huskers will be wearing pink cleats to go along with their all white uniforms, the program found a way to go one step further.

The program rolled out a look at the pink cleats on Friday afternoon, alongside a nearly five-minute, incredibly touching video featuring several Husker players talking about how cancer in general and breast cancer in particular has affected their families. The video also showed old footage of NU head coach Matt Rhule talking about how his wife is a breast cancer survivor, driving home how important it is to everyone in the program.

Nebraska football’s pink tribute honors cancer survivors and lost loved ones

One other tidbit about what Nebraska is planning for the Friday night showdown with Minnesota that hasn't been officially announced was reported by The Lincoln Journal Star's Amie Just. She reported the team is planning on matching the cleats with pink 'N' decals on the side of the helmet. They will also sport pink helmet stripes and pink face masks.

At this point in our country's history, the facts and figures are still staggering. Each year in the United States, about 270,000 women get breast cancer, and 42,000 women die from the disease. Hence, there is a need to continue bringing attention to it.

For the Cornhuskers, it's obviously deeply personal for many members of the team and for the university as a whole. In February, "The Voice of the Huskers," Greg Sharpe, passed away after contracting pancreatic cancer.

While some fans have missed the point and shown the worst side of themselves, complaining about putting pink on football uniforms, from my perspective, as someone whose mother is a breast cancer survivor, whose grandmother died from breast cancer, whose father-in-law is a prostate cancer survivor, whose uncle is a cancer survivor and whose father died from cancer four years ago, this decision from the Nebraska football program allows them to demonstrate some things are bigger than the game.