Nice job commenting on the K-State game everyone! It's always neat to hear some of the stories people have..where they were and who they were with, what they were doing. Good stories from everyone, but my favorite? - DrJHoustonHusker , who was huddled with forty other athletes in a bus en route back to Lincoln, watching Nebraska play the Wildcats on a tiny portable television. Great stuff!
So, Texas.
Hmm....hard to pick this one, right?
Recently, there's the game- that sparked all of this heated anticipation, the moment that ball sailed though the uprights last December. But I'm gonna go with a game I think hurt me more, for unique reasons. It's tough to pick just one contest in this series (remember, just the Big 12 era) because it has been over ten years since we last beat Texas.
My pick? Jump!
October 21st, 2006
To back up here a bit, Texas hasn't lost to Nebraska in the regular season since 1960, and hasn't lost in Lincoln since 1933. That's depression era folks, so to say that Nebraska hasn't ALWAYS wanted to beat Texas in Lincoln would be..well, not true. (To be fair, we'd only played them four times prior to the Big 12 era)
Four years ago, Texas rolled into Lincoln as a 1-loss #5 ranked team, coming off a National Championship the year before. Nebraska, with it's proud image in tatters after 2 years under Callahan, had somehow managed a #17 ranking after a wacky Alamo Bowl win in 2005. (Mack Brown would comment that Nebraska was "back", but we all knew better than that, right?)
As for me, well...I was knee deep in dirty diapers trying to maintain some form of sanity. Trust me, new babies (especially ones dressed in pink) and Nebraska football in turmoil - can really bring a guy to his knees! With little money and no cable television, I had spent far too many games doing my fatherly duties buried in a pastel-hued prison of sorts , and cursing as quietly as I could towards the radio. Thankfully, some guy in Des Moines thought it would be cool to broadcast Husker games on a local FM channel that year. But this game in 2006, nationally televised, was one that I was sure as hell not going to miss watching. To see us beat Texas, and somehow convince myself that Nebraska was at the very least on their way back, would make all of those afternoons surrounded by pampers worth it.
Again, to make a long story short....we didn't beat Texas. The Horn's jumped ahead quickly, but no lead was safe with Zac Taylor throwing the ball. Billy C. pulled out a few tricks, and Nebraska clawed it's way back behind Brandon Jackson, Nate Swift, and Maurice Purify to take a 20-19 lead as an eerie October snow started to fall in Lincoln. Maybe Callahan was a genius?!
Nebraska had the rock, and the lead with time running out....and then Terrance Nunn happened. A pure WTF? moment on third down, fumbling right to the bad guys....leading to this:
Wasn't Nunn's fault, he was just doing what he was asked to do. Sure he could've held on to the ball, but why pass the ball that late? Run some more clock and punt if you have to? Who knows....let's just pile all the blame on Mr. Bill, and move on...shall we?
Texas 22 Nebraska 20
Heartbroken. This game killed me, and every game against those bastards since then has compounded my desire to kill the guys in orange. My third child is here, my first son, and so maybe this last game will finally be the one. One last time for the Big Red against the Burnt Orange, not surrounded by pink - but Husker red. I'll admit I'm a bit sad to see this budding rivalry end so soon, but I can't say that I hate this feeling I have about Saturday. The feeling that in three short days we will bid Longorn fans one final adieu, and get one last word on Texas.
My love/hate players?
Love - Ricky Williams: I gotta love a guy who can punish fools on the field the way he did, and then still have a side of him that just wants to sit alone on a tropical island and smoke pot in a tent. So...unpretentious.
Hate - Any Texas kicker: Does that even need explaining?
Alright, let's hear 'em. I know there are some really good stories out there for this one...