"...where it will be greeted, so to speak, by a sea of 85,000, screaming, red-clad Nebraska fans."

[Eric the Red]

Pack football team gets its biggest stage

DAN HINXMAN

RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL

Posted: 8/26/2007

 

In six days, the Nevada football team, in its white-over-blue jerseys, will jog out of its locker room and onto the Memorial Stadium turf in Lincoln, Neb., where it will be greeted, so to speak, by a sea of 85,000, screaming, red-clad Nebraska fans.

 

And this ...

 

 

5 national titles;

 

 

3 Heisman Trophy winners;

 

 

106 All-Americans;

 

 

44 bowl game appearances;

 

 

282 consecutive sellouts;

 

 

43 conference titles;

 

 

and 803 all-time victories.

 

It's no contest, Wolf Pack head coach Chris Ault said last week. The Nebraska Cornhuskers are unequivocally the most storied program the Pack has ever faced.

 

"Without question," Ault said. "It's one thing to face them, and then it's one thing to play. We know where we stand with this thing. ... You've got a storied program. I think that's a thrill. I think anybody in their right mind would give their right arm to have this opportunity."

 

It is an opportunity that Wolf Pack players are eagerly awaiting, even if they have no idea what to expect.

 

"I don't know because I've never experienced it before," nose guard and two-year captain Matt Hines said. "I'm excited. I think it will be a good experience, but I don't know because I've never seen that many people in a stadium before."

 

Added junior running back Luke Lippincott, "It means everything to me. If we're going to be a Division (I-A) school, in order to be one of the best, we have to play the best. In order to make our program better, to get better recruits and to just get this school more known nationwide, we have to play those teams and win."

 

The anticipated crowd of 85,000 would no doubt be the largest ever to see a Nevada football game. Attendance records are not kept, but it is believed that the largest crowd previously was the 70,149 who watched Nevada beat Washington, 28-17, in Seattle in 2003.

 

And whether there are 85 fans in the stands or 85,000, Nevada's task is a large one. The 20th-ranked Cornhuskers are a three-touchdown favorite for the 12:30 p.m. kickoff (televised regionally on ABC).

 

"We're playing in a hostile territory, it's a team ranked in the top 20, and it's your opening game, and you're a young team," Ault said. "All those things come into play."

 

The tradition is defined in the numbers listed above, specifically two of those numbers.

 

Only three schools -- Michigan (860), Notre Dame (821) and Texas (810) -- have more victories than does Nebraska, and no team has won more games since 1970 than Nebraska has.

 

No team has more national championships since 1970 (Miami and Alabama also have five). Nebraska won titles in 1971, 1972, 1995, 1996 and 1998. Notre Dame has won eight national titles since The Associated Press began certifying a champion in 1936.

 

Interestingly, the Wolf Pack will have played back-to-back games against two of the nation's most storied programs. Miami defeated Nevada, 21-20, in the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho on New Year's Eve.

 

"When we played Miami, people asked us about the 'wow' factor, but we played them in Boise," Hines said. "Here, we're going into their territory, their stadium, all those people. Hopefully, when we get there Friday, it will take away some of that 'wow' factor for us. But I can't say there isn't going to be, because there is going to be a 'wow' factor for us."

 

Some might argue that Nebraska's stay atop the "most storied program Nevada has ever faced" list will be a short one, though. The Wolf Pack will travel to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame in 2009.

 

"When we moved to Division I-A (in 1992), this was the future," said defensive coordinator Ken Wilson, who has been an assistant under Ault at Nevada since 1989. "Now the future's here. We've lined up against some of those teams. It's not enough to play them anymore. Certainly, with 80,000 people, it's going to be exciting. But once the ball's kicked off, it's football. We're going to play hard, I know that.

 

"It'll be interesting to see the look in their eyes. Miami and Nebraska, those are the teams you want to play."

 

Lippincott, who said everyone on the team "has Google-earthed (Memorial Stadium) to see how big it is," said he thinks the Pack can use the underdog role to its advantage.

 

"I think it will actually help us get fired up, pumped up," he said. "It'll be like pilgrims in an unholy land, coming in there like a band of brothers."

[pigsonthewing]

Notre Dame is a myth.

[papersun87]

Notre Dame is a myth.

I've been trying to convince people of this for years.

[rawhide]

Nevada has it all wrong they are the infidels coming into the Holy Land.

 

Blessed be the corn, may it be fruitful and score many touchdowns.

 

Blessed be the corn, may they be unpenalized while all nonbelievers are flagged to eternity.

 

Blessed be the corn, may they lay waste to all non-corn believers.

 

 

GBR

 

 

[billdozer15]

Notre Dame is a myth.

I've been trying to convince people of this for years.

 

Only about half of Notre Dame victories should count. They may play a couple tough games a year, but all the rest are Super Cupcakes. (i.e. Navy, Air Force, DUKE, Stanford) Most Division II teams could beat those teams. I will give them half wins for every cupcake they play, and by my math that would put them at 575.

[Landlord]

By that same logic Texas should have several more "wins" than us, because they play all the South teams every year whereas we play the North teams.

[General Blackshirt]

The 20th-ranked Cornhuskers are a three-touchdown favorite for the 12:30 p.m. kickoff (televised regionally on ABC).

2:30 there bud

[papersun87]

The 20th-ranked Cornhuskers are a three-touchdown favorite for the 12:30 p.m. kickoff (televised regionally on ABC).

2:30 there bud

Actually, in Nevada it might be 12:30. Time difference.

[General Blackshirt]

The 20th-ranked Cornhuskers are a three-touchdown favorite for the 12:30 p.m. kickoff (televised regionally on ABC).

2:30 there bud

Actually, in Nevada it might be 12:30. Time difference.

i appear to stand corrected. i failed to notice this was a Nevada article..

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

Good. I hope they come out fired up. It will be much more satisfying when we knock that wind right out of them...

[huskernumerouno]

They should make sure their players are on the field for the tunnle walk to get the full effect of coming to Memorial stadium and see the WOW factor then.

 

GBR

[N Bug]

Nice to read an article that is so positive about the pending Memorial Stadium experience. Rather than taking the opportunity to bash us, or say the luster is gone (which it is not), this writer actually sounds exicted to come. Nice to read.

[1Huskernation]

Nebraska won titles in 1971, 1972, 1995, 1996 and 1998.

 

Close-I guess he just looked to see what date the games were played on for the 94,95,and 97 championships.

 

Go Big Red!!

[HuskerJosh82]

Nebraska won titles in 1971, 1972, 1995, 1996 and 1998.

 

Close-I guess he just looked to see what date the games were played on for the 94,95,and 97 championships.

 

Go Big Red!!

 

I noticed that too.