Hey Husker fans,
September 5th can't come quickly enough. I'm driving the 14 hours out from Utah. I've been waiting for this matchup since 1997. I grew up a BYU fan, moved to Lincoln for my senior year of high school (Lincoln East Class of '97) and learned to love the Huskers as a second team. I just missed the Tommie Frazier era but followed the Huskers with Scott Frost and Eric Crouch. I lived next to Will Shields.
I grew up watching BYU teams with pass-happy offenses and no defense. Being introduced to the Black Shirts and option football was a blast and the first place I truly learned to love the college football experience. I haven't followed the Huskers much since the firing of Frank Solich. Once Nebraska's identity as a tough option run team changed, I have focused my time on BYU. BYU is closest to my heart and I'm also an alum.
I hope you have good experiences with BYU fans at the game. By far the majority of fans are good, kind people but we have some bad apples like every fanbase. I'm excited for BYU to experience the hospitality of Lincoln and Memorial Stadium.
If you have any questions about BYU, I'd be happy to answer them.
1. BYU will certainly suspend a bunch of the players from the bowl game fight. At the beginning of this thread I noticed some raised eyebrows over BYU punishing someone having pre-marital sex over throwing a punch at a game. While Bronco is keeping his cards close to his vest for competitive reasons, there will certainly be punishments. Discipline is taken seriously at BYU because of how it could reflect on it's parent institution, the LDS Church.
2. Taysom is legit. I guarantee Texas doesn't want to face him again. Obviously the Huskers will focus on shutting him down so it will be interesting to see if he has improved his passing game. If BYU can spread the ball around the field, it bodes well for the Cougars. Of course, if the Huskers can contain Taysom, it bodes well for the Huskers.
3. The older average player age gets used as an excuse every year by teams that lose to BYU. It's an easy excuse that usually doesn't tell what really happened on the field. The average age usually isn't that much higher, plus they are taking 2 years away from football and intense training. It takes most returned missionaries at least one season to get back to the form they had before the mission. BYU has had many players look good to great their freshman year, then leave for a mission and never fulfill the promise they showed as freshman.
4. If you want to engage in good football discussion with BYU, don't belittle the fans by assuming the Huskers are better just because you play in a P5 conference. I totally agree that the Huskers have better overall depth than BYU but many P5 teams have lost to BYU assuming their talent alone would win the day. Give us a little respect and you'll get it back.
I'm looking forward to Greg's Drive-in burgers (a high school favorite), Valentino's pizza, Runza, and red hot dogs.
After September 5th, Go Big Red but until then Go Cougs!
HuskerCoug
