ColoradoHusk
Heisman Trophy Winner
As students, my friends and I would regularly leave games in the 3rd quarter during blowouts. We would either go back home and watch other games, check our bets, or we would go home to get ready to go out later that nightRevisionist history? Fans have been leaving at halftime for decades. In the 90's, it was because we were up so big the game was virtually over. The only places packed in Lincoln then were the bars. I vividly remember the game against KU in 92'. KU came into Lincoln ranked in the top 15. It was a night game, and it was pretty darn cold. We ended up trouncing KU. The score at halftime was 35-7. Halfway through the third quarter, the stadium was at least half empty if not more.Whether or not the ticket is 'sold' is not as important, in my view, to sending the message to all parties concerned, as 'no shows' at the games or fans leaving early or at half time. I have seen droves of fans heading south at half time for past half dozen years. That never used to happen. Fans go to watch 'great football games'. These recent games have been 'exciting' in the sense that the winner has not been decided until often the last play of the game. But, for a majority of Nebraska fans, we consider 'great football' to be not so much who wins the game but how the game is played. In a way, it is like the line "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game that truly counts!" In Nebraska, we expect to win AND play the game right, honestly, fairly and thoroughly! We have terminated coaches even though they may have won a signficant portion of their games because they didn't win the right way. Winning wrong is no better and can even be worse than losing the right way.
In 1997, we left the Oklahoma-NU game shortly after halftime, and I remember hearing the fireworks for TO's 250th career win from my house in Lincoln. Leaving early is not a new thing.