Oh, you mean the irrelevant history that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual rosters on the Missouri and Nebraska squads?

Or history in the actual relevant terms, which is the 41-6, let me say that again, 41-6, skull-fucking we gave you last year?

Thanks for ranking us high, which you should, and I’m about 90% positive you’ll win the next time we play. But this whole “We’re not saying we’re going to win, but…” message Nebraska fans are sold on is disappointing. And sad, considering the way we’re going to breeze through Lincoln like you’re not even there.

Very well written.

I think Pellini’s going to do a great job… in a year. It’s just interesting because Nebraska fans seem to be stuck between their usual assumption that they will always field the best team in the North, and the memories of just how abysmally horrible they were last year.

I guess here’s a serious, legitimate question, because I get this from all the Nebraska fans I meet. It started with my wife, who’s a Husker, and her family. I asked why the fact that we hadn’t won in Lincoln in so long was such a big deal, considering we’ve NEVER been this good and Nebraska has NEVER been this bad? I mean, it’s not like in the NFL, where you still have your 8 year defensive all-star, or your all-world quarterback. You have Ganz, who showed flashes of borderline brilliance, and Lucky, who’s a tremendous back. I really think you guys are going to shock Kansas. But Missouri is fielding what may go down as its best team. Ever. I say that because you will get back to being Nebraska. I like to think about some sort of power shift in the big 12 north because, really, it’s fun. But we all know that’s not true. Missouri will never put the same resources towards football that Nebraska does, nor does it have the legacy to continually produce the same level of recruiting. That, and Pellini is one hell of a coach.

But I still fail to see why even a long standing pattern of our admittedly abject failure should result in such confidence about your ability to hang with the best team in the Big 12? It could happen, that’s certain. I mean, Iowa State wins games sometimes. Okay, that’s not even fair. Hell, stranger things have happened, we’re somehow the best team in the Big 12. That’s insane. But it’s definitely true when you look at the talent.

I just ask. If we do come in and beat you by, oh, say 35 points in Lincoln this season, will that be enough to earn your respect?

that for all of our newfound swagger, we all still stagger once we remember the same words you guys throw at us so many times.

We’re Still Missouri.

(shudder)

Thanks for the props, I try to craft my words thoughtfully…so it means a lot when someone notices. More often, people just write me off as a windbag, so I appreciate that. Thanks also for clearing up a point or two that I may have jumped the gun on. Didn’t mean to paint with too broad a brush just because you outed yourself as a Missouri fan.

I think you hit the nail on the head with regard to that of my own fanbase. This Husker offseason has been like a stroll through some sort of nightmarish purgatory…so far removed from the heaven of the “glory days”, while trying desperately with each passing day to attain an equal psychological distance from the hell of last year’s exhausting collapse. I don’t think it helps that the psyche of Joe Husker has also been tweaked by the fact that Camp Cornhusker has been hopelessly divided for over five years now. We’ve been so busy gnashing at each other for so long…when we start to venture back out to play with others, we’re extra touchy lately.

So I’ll grant that it must take great patience to deal with us, now more than ever. I mean, hey, at least you have things of the skull-fucking nature to come back with now…in the event that we start to throw around our pretentious, entitled commentary on how you’d all better respect how great we used to be! I don’t begrudge you your skull-fuckings…I only meant to suggest that winning in Lincoln has always been an achievement for any visiting team. That’s why it’s a big deal. The sod cemetery started some 20 years before, but the FSU program got their biggest shot in the arm after burying a section of our turf there. It’s always been a big deal to beat Nebraska in Lincoln. I don’t mean over the course of our lives…more like my grandfather’s. He used to tell me stories about how the great Knute Rockne quit coming because he and the four horsemen would always get beat when they traveled to Nebraska. As Corn Blight wisely points out…such is the lore we cling to when all other hope is lost. If the worst Nebraska team in history were to get beat by the best Missouri team ever…NU fans (myself included) would make sure to mention it, but it would just be a hollow excuse to try and help shield ourselves from yet another crushing blow toward the finality of the end of what was once so great and so near and so dear to us. But you’re damn right it would mean something in the heart of every true Husker. It always means something to come into our house and take what’s ours. So, from Missouri fan’s perspective, it’d seem to be all the better if Mizzou took it to the best NU had to offer, just for good measure (ring any 30-year-old bells?) and not just some picked-over carcass of what once was. But it seems some Missouri fans have been spending a lot of breath this preseason, downplaying the Huskers’ prospects. I guess my take is that they’d just be content to have it end, regardless of the circumstances…and not have to hear about that pesky little statistical trend for a while.

Primarily, I wanted to point out that (under normal circumstances) even national and conference championship-caliber teams don’t customarily breeze through Lincoln without so much as a closely contested game on the part of the Huskers. According to the pundits, Missouri is in contention for such accolades this year…but it’d take a whole lot more of your time for me to illustrate to you why, historically speaking, an easy win over NU in Lincoln is anything but a foregone conclusion. But as a Missouri fan, you should probably know enough about how hard it is to win in Lincoln…so I’ll try to make that my last patronizing point to you on this matter. But after all of that…such a long answer to your short question could’ve just as easily been: beat us by a single point in Lincoln and Mizzou will have nothing but my heartfelt respect. Beat us by 35…well, let’s just not go there quite yet.

On an aside, for whatever it’s worth, I’ve already put my money where my mouth is regarding NU/Mizzou this season. You see, I live 400 miles from Lincoln and I’m involved with high school games on Friday nights nowadays…so I don’t get to go to as many Husker games as I used to. I have to pick and choose wisely. A lot of my college buddies are in the same boat and so we all like to pick one game to go to together for an annual reunion. When it came down to it, we were all free for either the Missouri game or the Kansas game this year…so with very little hesitation, the consensus was KU. Personally, I’m sick of going back for losses and I’m of the opinion that that’s all we’d likely see in Lincoln on the first weekend in October.

you’re playing on house money. If you lose, well, hell, USC absolutely demolished the building and left with your balls in a preppy little tote bag last year. You’re supposed to lose this year. If you win? Holy Jesus Christ on a Pogostick! That’s great! We’re in our first year of “We’re supposed to win no less than 10 games and even winning 11 is a disappointment.” It’s terrifying. It’s not like when you guys were on a roll and you could absolutely rely on your dominance. Jesus, we keep looking at the carriage, waiting for the pumpkin to pop back into place.

Not that I doubt the squad. Two Heisman candidates, the best tight end in the conference, three All Big-12 defensive players and an easier schedule will do that.

Then again, none of my friends will even discuss a game past Illinois. So we’re just brimming with confidence.

The more I think about it, and I remember how good Lucky is, and how big mobile QBs can hurt us, the less I think it’ll be a blowout. I think we still win, because I believe things are meant to change, and that streaks are made to be broken. But you’re right, there’s no way NU lays down for Mizzou like they did for USC last year.