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Just got back home from the Cotton Bowl. Sat on the Nebraska side, upper deck about the 30 yard line (South End Zone). Quick game thoughts: 1.) Nebraska definitely had more fans at the game than Auburn, but neither side came close to selling their tickets. 2.) About 10% of the Nebraska side was actually Auburn fans mixed in (don't ask me why they didn't go sit on the Auburn side, good Lord there were plenty of seats). 3.) Had 4 extra tickets next to me on the Nebraska side, sold them for $60 total and they had a face value of $90 each. Felt fortunate to do that! 4.) Auburn's band played the entire game, Nebraska's played sparingly. 5.) Nebraska fans were for the most part very classy (save and except the family from Kearney, NE sitting two rows behind me that had a Mom and a 14 year old son that needed their mouths washed out with soap and were negative about everything (Auburn and Nebraska wise)). 6.) Callahan blew the game with the fake punt reverse call he did in the first half! Nebraska was dominating the first half and that most certainly was NOT the time to do it! 7.) Cotton Bowl has a brand new video/score board that apparently the old geezers that work the game don't know how to operate either! Throughout the game they had the wrong down, wrong yard line, wrong "To Go" amount, even had the 3rd quarter listed on there during the 1st quarter. They were very, very slow in getting the replays up on the board and when they did the camera shots were from field level! Coach Tubberville even looked up at the board during the jump ball Auburn threw in the 3rd quarter and raised his hands above his head as if "WTF are you doing up there"???? 8.) Cotton Bowl is a dump, dump, dump! Manned by volunteers at the concessions and they're slow as HELL, many of the seats beneath the deck can't see the new video board so they put in poor quality TV's that are 27 inchers and you're supposed to see them from 50 feet away. Bathrooms are extremely small and concourses even smaller! 9.) Dallas Police Department acts like they've never had a big game at the Cotton Bowl either with their traffic control! Never have seen a bunch of stupider Cops in my entire life! Never!! 10.) Beautiful day and perfect weather! 11.) Nebraska fans are pretty quiet during the game (as compared to UT, OU and A&M fans especially). 12.) Nebraska is one to two years away from being back to an elite program. Pretty solid game playing overall, no super stars on the squad but could be. 13.) GET THE BALL TO MAURICE PURIFY!! My goodness, he had a 5'9" DB on him all game and Purify was manhandling the kid. He (Purify) could be and should be a gold mine for you guys next year! 14.) Good Luck to Nebraska next year. Would love to check out a game in Lincoln in the near future and plan on doing so.

Yes, the stadium is pretty old and not constructed to today's standards. Worst things are that the concourses are extremely small which means that if you stay for the whole game along with the crowd, it will take you 10-15 minutes to get out of the stadium if you don't have clausterphobia. The restrooms, well they've been trying to get those going a little better, but they're old and small as well. That being said, with the apparent lack of support in terms of numbers from the Nebraska fans as compared to the last 10 Cotton Bowls I've been to and sat on the Big XII side, that shouldn't be a problem at all. And the Dallas media being biased? They're only bias is that they love the Texas Longhorns. Hell, TCU has had only 2 less wins over the past 5 seasons than UT and we're a second or third run to them in the DFW media. Texas Tech sometimes gets as much coverage as TCU does and they're a 6 hour drive away! That being said, the most influential media member in Dallas (Dale Hansen of WFAA-TV and ESPN Radio) is a HUGE Husker fan. Lived and worked in Omaha most of his life until he moved to Dallas in the early 80's and when Osborne was the head coach at Nebraska, he'd cover them more than UT/A&M, etc. for this market. Still I sit here in complete SHOCK that Nebraska is not expected to sell out their side of the stadium (by anyone's predictions and stats) and that excellent tickets are going for way less than face value for this game against a top-quality program that was #1 in many pre-season polls. I thought only Iowa State and Baylor were the traveling weaklings of the Big XII. This whole episode has lead me to believe differently.

Thanks for the replies and they're appreciated, but here's the gist of what I'm getting as to why the Nebraska fans aren't coming down in droves: 1.) "I've heard that Dallas is a dump, though I've never been there during a college football weekend." 2.) "I don't make a ton of money and therefore can't afford it." 3.) "I, along with thousands of other Huskers, don't want to do it this year when I think/hope we'll be better this year." Come on guys, those aren't good excuses at all, unless you have weak fan support which I thought I'd never hear/say/see for Nebraska. If none of you have ever been in Dallas during Texas/OU weekend, you have no idea just how much fun The West End, Deep Ellum and Lower Greenville truly are with all of the bars, restaurants, bars, establishments, bars, that there are in those areas. They're jam-packed every Texas/OU weekend and typically every Cotton Bowl weekend over and above what they are on a normal weekend. Money, was kind of hoping that that wasn't a factor for a Nebraska degree'd person but we all have our limits. Waiting for next year are the famous last words of the dead. Step up, support your team 100% of the time and show no weakness. Did anyone see the Holiday Bowl last night between A&M and Cal? A&M sold out their tickets and then some and as stated earlier, I just got back from San Diego and the Poinsettia Bowl supporting TCU and San Diego offers nothing that Dallas doesn't offer, a little less to tell you the truth. This time of the year there are no other sports in San Diego while in Dallas you can go to a Mavs game, a Stars game or a FW Flyers game (NBA D-League team). Weather in San Diego was actually colder than Dallas when we were there. San Diego zoo is comparable to Fort Worth Zoo. We have Six Flags and tons of other entertainment venues open now that San Diego doesn't. Both have pro football teams playing at home this time of the year so that's a push. I'd love to hear the top Bowl games based on locale that others see. I can name the Sugar Bowl as one that I think is as good but that's pre-Katrina. Phoenix (Fiesta), LA (Rose), Miami (Orange) - those all have roughly the same temp as Dallas this time of the year and none offer more to do of any significance over Big D and FW combined.

Okay Husker fans, I'm brand spanking new to this site and went out searching for it after the following has happened to me: I have been a long time Cotton Bowl ticket holder (have for over 10 years) and have always had seats on the East Side of the Stadium (non-pressbox side). I've gone to virtually all of the games over the 10 years but the years where I could not go I could always sell my tickets for at least face value due to being on the Big XII side of the stadium (once the Big XII was dedicated to playing in this game). This year, I have 4 extra tickets in the upper deck, about the 35-40 yard line and on the aisle in the upper deck. The retail value is $90 each for the tickets and I have them listed on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=009&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=190065501248&rd=1&rd=1) What I'm SHOCKED about and has me out here is the absolute lack of support that Nebraska is apparently bringing to this game. Last year Texas Tech had their side of the stadium sold out and Alabama had roughly 85% of their side sold out. The year before Texas A&M overflowed into the Tennessee side. The year before that Oklahoma State overflowed into the Ole Miss side. The year before that Texas was roughly 70% of the entire stadium! I've heard on the local sports radio shows that the Nebraska fan base is expected to be "substantially below filling their side of the stadium." Is this true??? If so, why in the world aren't the Nebraska fans supporting your program??? I'm a big TCU fan and even went out to San Diego for our Poinsettia Bowl game earlier this month and while we don't travel well nor have super big crowds at home, we still brought about 1/3rd of our average home crowd out to San Diego for that bowl game against an inferior and non-supported program (Northern Illinois). If Nebraska can even bring 1/2 of it's average attendance for a home game, it would easily fill your side of the Cotton Bowl. Are you guys unhappy with your season? Don't think you're going to win the game?? Seriously, someone explain it to me. Good luck in the game.