Talking to some friends at UNL they thought the terrible home schedule was a big reason for them not being sold out.
That's bizarre thinking to me. I'd go hang out at practice if they'd let me. I literally pay to watch a Spring football practice every year. I couldn't care less who they're playing, if it's Husker football, I'd like to be there watching it.
The idea that if they're playing weak opponents we won't show up is weird. This Sellout Streak wasn't built on the most rugged of schedules. For the better part of the 60s-90s, you could count on at least five of the other Big 8 schools to be pretty much crap, plus two garbage non-cons and maybe a half-decent-to-good non-con opponent.
The years we played Oklahoma in Norman, we rarely played a "sexy" team in Lincoln. Yet they still sold out the stadium, because it was Nebraska and we were Nebraskans.