Nebraska plays Fordham this week and there are hints that the sellout streak may be threatened. That’s too bad.

The sellout streak is important to Husker football. I explain why in this video.

I also explain that Nebraska is very relevant and why it would be bad if both relevance and the sellout streak went away.

Subscribe to our Youtube channel so we can grow, please.

I have a book out!

On August 21st, 2015, I unexpectedly dropped dead of a widowmaker heart attack. I was shocked five times on the way to the hospital with no response. I was shocked two more times in the ER. I was dead for over 20 minutes. A stent was placed, and I was induced into a coma. In January 2016, I received a second stent and in June I was diagnosed with an anoxic brain injury.

I wrote a book about my death and recovery. The title, “Been Dead, Never Been To Europe” reflects the ironic nature of life, what happens versus what we want to happen. It’s available at Amazon.

Consider signing up for my newsletter, which is about me and my interests beyond Cornhuskers sports. (I know, right?)

I know many of you are the “I won’t watch a video” kind, so here’s a Very Sketchy Transcript By Youtube

hello everybody it’s john johnston corn nation

i have come out here to the amazon rainforest to get away from things for a bit

so i can clear my mind and think about nebraska football and where

we’re going and what’s going on i’d like

to talk to you today about relevance and what’s going to happen to nebraska

if we lose the sellout streak

first of all let’s ask the question

is nebraska relevant

well what’s the definition of relevance

it’s right here on my notes i brought to the rain forest where it says “relation

to the matter at hand”

so what’s that mean?

that means when people are talking about college football do they talk about nebraska?

yeah they’re talking about nebraska i mean paul feinbaum has already ripped

this apart for our lost illinois i’m sure pat ford has written an article talking about our tractors or cornfields or something but people talk about us quite a bit you know over the past year we’ve been ripped to shreds for wanting to play an out a conference game wanting to play football in a pandemic

there’s a long list of things where we continue to be talked about

they talk about nebraska way more than they do other people and why is that is because we’re one of the biggest brands in college football

we’re not very good in fact we quite frankly suck

but we are very relevant

and

i think my biggest issue with this is

i’m worried about it going away because

we’re going to have real problems if our relevance actually goes away

this week we play fordham

it’s a body bag game there’s probably not a lot of people interested in going to memorial stadium so the sellout streak is in danger of ending

it’s usually one of those games you take your kids to because they’re going to have fun you don’t have to worry about

it being a close game where everybody’s screaming and it’s maniacal inside the stadium it’s just going to be a fun time for kids who are going to watch who aren’t going to stay and watch the whole

game anyway so

what happens if the sellout streak ends the problem is it’s not just the sellout streak that’s

at stake the sellout streak is social proof of nebraska’s brand

all right we have only one 1.8 million people in the state of nebraska and like me expatriates all over the nation all over the world and honestly i know a friend of mine in thailand and germany who watch nebraska football religiously

that social proof shows that our fans still care about the football team and that football team

brand awareness and that social proof is what got us into the big ten

because they know that we were we’re

we’re a property

we’re worth money we are valued

unlike iowa state whose future looks

like they’re just going to be left

behind in a dying big 12.

so would you rather be nebraska right

now would you rather be iowa state

and i don’t get me wrong i love iowa

state i have good friends from there

todd that does the podcast with me you

know i love those guys and i don’t want

anything bad to happen to them but their

future does not look good

nebraska’s future i don’t think we’re

going to get thrown out of the big ten

any time soon but you know kevin

warren’s in charge so who the hell knows

what’s going to go on every time paul

feinbaum says something

we respond on social media every time

pat 40 writes some crappy article about our tractors we respond on social media

every time colin coward probably says

something i don’t listen to colin cowherd

we respond to that and that’s why they

do those things

that’s why nebraska has one of the

biggest presence on social media because

we’re constantly i don’t know roaming

the edges of our psyche looking for any

offense so we can respond to it good job

the sellout streak is incredibly

important in recruiting

you know the recruits come and they see

a stadium full of rabid fans and they

want to play in front of fans

i don’t want to go someplace where

they’re going to play in front of a few

thousand people

and that’s a big selling point and we

need recruiting we need all the thing

every advantage we can get in recruiting

because we don’t have a population base

even with that whole 500 mile radius

thing we don’t have a population base

that’s going to provide enough division

1 football players for us to be a

championship winning team and that’s

where we want to be that’s where we want

to get

i don’t think scott frost is going to be

our coach at the end of the year

i’m not sure he’s going to be our coach

in three weeks

next week today 15 minutes

i really don’t i you know nothing is

changing we’re not getting better

we’re looking at the same old crap i

don’t even know if we’re gonna win our

next two games against boredom yay and

buffalo but

after that

it’s anybody’s guess because we keep

seeing the same old crap

we’re gonna need our fan base

in place

to sell nebraska

on the next head coach because right now

if you look at nebraska

football if scott frost gets canned or

leaves at the end of this season

we have will have ended his career

probably

mike riley’s bocalini’s

bill calhan’s

we’re becoming

not a destination place but a place

where coaches careers go to dawn

and that’s not exactly something to sell

to somebody we don’t want them to come

to you know we’re not going to sell matt

campbell from iowa state who i would

like to see as our next head coach we’re

not going to sell him on coming to

nebraska

if our fan base isn’t doesn’t give a

[ __ ] anymore

hence the importance of staying relevant

and if you ask me what what do we need

for our next head coach i think we need

somebody who just knows fundamentals

they don’t have to be some big wow name

they just need to be a decent football

coach because it’s not like the big ten

west is full of juggernauts year to year

they’re just playing better football

than we are we’re already recruiting

better than most of the rest of the big

ten

especially the big ten west

so it’s not like we need a wow name to

come in the only thing worse than being

talked about

is not being talked about

and that’s where nebraska is we’re kind

of on the edge of

not being talked about

and that would be a damn shame

now andy staples yesterday

i think he’s one of the best national

college football writers brought up the

fact that you know scott frost could win

and go 13-0 in the aac

at ucf but he can’t manage to beat more

than three big ten west seasons

teams you know why is that

what happened in that time frame and i’m

sure everybody has comments on that

but it’s an interesting thought that’s

what makes the story about scott frost

kind of interesting that he did so well

there and he’s failing miserably at

nebraska and you’re all welcome to say

nasty things about nebraska all you want

i guess i left that door open for you

i have to make my way out of the amazon

rainforest and back home again

take care of yourselves

[Laughter]

[ __ ] everything go big red