Nebraska Football Fans Have Been Watching the Same Movie for Nearly a Decade

T.J. Birkel

Nebraska lost 28-20 to USC at the Coliseum on Saturday, in a game that pretty well summed up the last decade of Husker football. The unlucky bounces, the inability to make crucial stops on defense when needed, the offense not being able to convert key opportunities: every part of that game was all too familiar to the Big Red faithful. After a 5-1 start, the Huskers have now lost four in a row, and fans are left to wonder if we’re staring down the barrel of an eighth straight season without a bowl game. 

We’ll try to make sense of it all in the topline takeaways. 

CHEERS TO THAT

Husker Fans at the Coliseum. The Omaha World Herald estimated around 15,000 Nebraska fans were in attendance at the game. The TV announcers were even commenting on the noise the visiting fans were making. Once again, Husker football fans showed why we are the best fanbase in college football. Despite a subpar product on the field for many years now, along with the aforementioned bowl-less streak, Nebraska fans continue to show up. These fans deserve a winner more than anyone in sports. 

Ceyair Wright. Wright transferred from USC after last season, and he made sure his former teammates felt his presence on Saturday afternoon. The junior cornerback was responsible for the first points of the game, as he intercepted quarterback Jayden Maiava and took it all the way to the house. Later in the game, he made a crucial block on what was basically a chip shot field goal attempt for the Trojans, keeping the score at 21-20 (surprising absolutely no one, the offense went three-and-out and gave the ball right back to USC). 

Wright finished with four tackles to go along with his blocked field goal and pick six. He’s been a bright spot for this defense since getting his first start against Purdue on September 28 in place of an injured Tommi Hill. One has to assume he has locked down one of the starting cornerback spots for 2025. 

Nebraska Came Ready to Play. There have been games this season where it felt like Nebraska came out of the gate flat footed. This was not one of them. The Huskers came out ready to fight against the Trojans. The Blackshirts made stops on USC’s first two offensive drives (one of which was Wright’s pick six). Then, after USC’s offense had two quick scores to make it 14-7, the Nebraska offense responded with a touchdown drive of its own. I also felt like the coaching staff had a better game plan against USC than what we’ve seen in recent games (especially against UCLA). It wasn’t a perfect performance by any stretch, but the Big Red showed plenty of fight. 

DIDN’T LIKE THAT

Second Verse, Same as the First. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Nebraska had the ball trailing 21-20 in the 4th quarter with a chance to take the lead, but wound up punting. The Trojans would go down and score to make it 28-20, and Nebraska’s last ditch drive to try to force overtime ended in an interception in the end zone. If this was a movie or a Netflix show, it would get panned for lacking creativity, and continuing to reuse the same story lines over and over and over again. It’s been talked about ad nauseam, but that’s because…

CONTINUE READING FOR FREE ON SI.COM

Make sure to check out our new website, www.commonfan.co. We went to TS Web Services to build the site for us. Their team of experts is dedicated to providing top-notch solutions tailored to your needs. Whether you need web development or hosting, they’ve got you covered. You can trust TS Web Services to take your online presence to the next level. We had a great experience working with their team, they were very responsive and delivered high quality work. TS Web Services can help improve, redesign, or host your website. Check out their website for more information today!