Red Sea to flood the Coliseum

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Eric the Red

Team HuskerBoard
Red Sea to flood the Coliseum

By Matthew Kredell, Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - Tom Burnell grew up the second oldest of 12 children, but he never truly felt like part of a family until he attended his first Nebraska football game as a freshman in 1980.

'I came from a very poor family with divorced parents,' said Burnell, who left home at age 16. 'I didn't know what true companionship, love and spirit of family was. I got that the first day I sat in Nebraska Memorial Stadium. Those people became my instant family.'

For the past 26 years, Burnell has gone to all but seven Cornhuskers games. He plans many fall weeks around traveling to road games with his wife, Terri, and their son, Matt.

Burnell will be at the Coliseum on Saturday, part of the sea of red preparing to invade Los Angeles for USC's game against Nebraska. The Huskers are expected to bring between 25,000 and 30,000 fans into the 92,000-seat stadium.

Nebraska has a reputation of having the best traveling fans of any college program. Memorable instances of late include the 30,000 fans the Huskers brought to Notre Dame Stadium in 2000 and an estimated 70,000 at the Rose Bowl BCS Championship game against Miami in 2002.

'There was a lot of red,' said Darryl Dunn, general manager of the Rose Bowl stadium. 'A lot of schools travel well, but nobody better than Nebraska. Any bowl game that gets Nebraska never has to worry about ticket sales.'

It looks like another epic Nebraskan migration is in store for Saturday.

In February, when the USC ticket office began selling tickets for this season, nearly 7,700 tickets for this game were sold in three days, with 3,400 ordered by people with Nebraska zip codes.

The school stopped selling individual Nebraska tickets, so Huskers fans began buying up season ticket packages for $295 just to get the game. Three hundred Trojans season tickets were bought by people with Nebraska area codes, according to the USC sports information department, before the ticket office began to sell ticket packages without the sold-out Nebraska and Notre Dame games.

This is in addition to the 5,000-ticket allotment given to the Nebraska athletic department.

The number of Nebraska fans who don't live in the state that bought

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tickets through USC is unknown. David Max, president of the California chapter of the Nebraska alumni association, estimates that 70 percent of the Huskers fans at the game will come from outside of Nebraska. Max, who also runs the Web site huskerpedia.com, said he knows of fans coming to the game from 45 of the 50 states. The California chapter of the alumni association is its largest.

Other fans are buying tickets through ticket agencies, and from USC season-ticket holders through online auction sites such as eBay.

'I can guarantee you that in Lincoln next year there will be no more than 5,000 USC fans,' said Max, who lives in Irvine. 'There's tremendous loyalty among Nebraska fans. If we meet another fan with a Nebraska hat on, we always stop to talk to each other. And usually someone knows someone who knows someone who is a cousin.There are no strangers among Nebraska fans.

It's easy to see why the Huskers inspire such passion from their fans. They are the only game in town.

Nebraska has no other major college or professional teams, nor beaches to serve as diversions.

'Nebraska football is the one common bond that brings everyone together,' Burnell said. 'There's a sense of loyalty for us to give back for all the enjoyment we get from watching them.'

One person who has been on both sides, as a player and as a fan, is former Huskers and San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig.

Craig, who still lives in the Bay Area, said he will be at the game as part of the Californians for Nebraska alumni club.

'There were plenty of games where the fans helped us get through tough times,' said Craig, who rushed for 2,446 yards for Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. 'When they've made the effort to travel, you don't want to let them down. You want to play well for them.'

matthew.kredell@dailynews.com

(818) 713-3607

 
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A Bumper Crop of Fans

Nebraska supporters are expected to swarm Coliseum to see 19th-ranked Cornhuskers match up against No. 4 USC

By David Wharton, Times Staff Writer

September 13, 2006

In the hours before kickoff, as Notre Dame Stadium rustled to life, something felt terribly wrong.

No other field in college football can lay claim to a richer sense of tradition, adorned with touches of blue and gold, yet the gathering crowd looked out of place. A murmur began running through the stands: Where is all this red coming from?

Nebraska fans.

The Fighting Irish were playing the top-ranked Cornhuskers that afternoon in the fall of 2000. Though the scarlet-clad visitors had received only a few thousand tickets, about 30,000 had come to South Bend, Ind., and, somehow, procured seats.

By game time, they accounted for roughly a third of the stadium crowd, chanting: "Husker home game."

"It was a sight to behold," said Byron Boslau, a longtime Nebraska booster.

Boslau had suspected something unusual might transpire that day, if only because the week before, everyone back in Lincoln had talked about making the trip.

Six years later, with the 19th-ranked Cornhuskers set to play No. 4 USC at the Coliseum on Saturday evening, there is a similar buzz.

At least 7,900 people associated with the school or living in Nebraska have bought tickets to the game, some of them apparently going so far as to purchase season tickets. In addition, ticket brokers report brisk sales, and Cornhuskers alumni groups are predicting a repeat of the Notre Dame showing.

Around Lincoln, USC has been the hot topic this summer.

"Every time you talk to somebody, the first question out of their mouth is, 'Are you going to the game?' " said Boslau, an insurance company president. "I think a lot of people are going out there."

The prospect of a red tide washing over the Coliseum might seem unlikely. After all, the hostile takeover at South Bend — a 27-24 overtime victory for Nebraska that ranks among the low points in Notre Dame history — occurred under far different circumstances.

With Bob Davie as coach, the Irish were suffering one mediocre season after another. Disgruntled season-ticket holders were seduced by invaders offering $500 or more a seat.

USC, on the other hand, is on a four-year high and consistently sells out. There has even been concern over not having enough seats for students.

Asked about a potential invasion of Nebraska fans, USC center Ryan Kalil said: "I can't see it happening. The Coliseum has been such a strong point for us, especially lately."

But in a stadium of 92,000 seats, there is room for error. And season-ticket holders who sell their seats aren't necessarily betraying the home team. They might have four seats and need only two, said Annie Libenson, a sports buyer for VIP Tickets in Los Angeles, which has experienced heavy interest in the game.

Nebraska received an allotment of 4,000 seats and USC officials said that people with Nebraska ZIP Codes bought 3,400 individual game tickets and 300 season tickets. Other fans appear poised to descend from all directions.

The state's population is less than 2 million, so many of the university graduates move away for jobs. Thriving clusters of alumni have sprung up in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.

Perhaps not coincidentally, online ticket broker StubHub.com reported "substantial" sales of USC-Nebraska tickets — at an average of $195 each — in those states. An executive declined to provide an exact number of sales but said it was in the thousands as of last week.

The Californians for Nebraska club has purchased about 1,000 tickets, past president Kent Wiedel said. The group's website has received 4,000 or so e-mails, asking about additional tickets and tailgate parties at the Coliseum.

Alumni groups in Northern California and Arizona "have large quantities of folks coming in," Wiedel said. "I would be very surprised if Nebraska fans don't show up in the tens of thousands."

Many of them might arrive without tickets, said Tim Butler, whose Georgians for Nebraska club is bringing about 50.

"They're going on the hopes they'll find tickets," he said. "A lot of folks will try to get them on EBay."

Los Angeles brokers say they have been doing good business on the game — with USC fans buying too — and an Omaha broker has been selling tickets since January.

"This is, by far, one of the biggest road games Nebraska has ever had," said Chad Carr, president of Ticket Express. "It's a huge, huge deal."

The game matters so much because the Cornhuskers are impatient to recapture the prominence they once enjoyed. Fans say a victory Saturday, or even a close score, would announce Nebraska's return to the national elite.

"People think it's a good measuring stick," said Lane Grindle, a nightly host on the school's official radio network. "This has been a game that every fan has circled since it was announced."

For weeks, the faithful have posted daily comments and predictions on websites such as bighuskerfan.com and huskerboard.com. They have discussed "Ten Reasons to Dislike USC" ("1. Two letters — O.J.") and "Ten Reasons to Like USC" ("1-10. The cheerleaders").

One fan created a photo illustration of red clouds enveloping the Coliseum and another offered a poem that read, in part:

After the Huskers had performed a perfect plan,

A small grin grew large on Coach Callahan.

More points than the Trojans, the Huskers had scored.

At the end of the day — Order Restored.

Nebraska's hunger for this matchup is such that alumni club leaders said fans would risk the trip knowing they might not get into the Coliseum. At the very least, they will tailgate in the parking lot beforehand, then find a bar with television sets.

"Southern California is a pretty desirable vacation," Butler said.

And there's always next season's rematch in Lincoln.

As Wiedel explained: "We've already received 200 to 300 e-mails for that game."

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david.wharton@latimes.com

*

(INFOBOX BELOW)

LONG WAIT

Nebraska and USC have played only two times:

1969 AT NEBRASKA

• Result: USC 31, Nebraska 21.

• Attendance: 67,058.

• The game: No. 5 USC beat unranked Nebraska in the season opener.

1970 AT COLISEUM

• Result: USC 21, Nebraska 21.

• Attendance: 73,768.

• The game: USC won the total yardage battle by one, 366 to 365.

 
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For weeks, the faithful have posted daily comments and predictions on websites such as bighuskerfan.com and huskerboard.com. They have discussed "Ten Reasons to Dislike USC" ("1. Two letters — O.J.") and "Ten Reasons to Like USC" ("1-10. The cheerleaders").
Click to expand...

HEY!!! Huskerboard.com is famous now!!! :lol:

 
Asked about a potential invasion of Nebraska fans, USC center Ryan Kalil said: "I can't see it happening. The Coliseum has been such a strong point for us, especially lately."
Click to expand...


Mr. Kalil, I think you are going to be a bit surprised when you walk into the Coliseum on Saturday night...

:restore

 
For weeks, the faithful have posted daily comments and predictions on websites such as bighuskerfan.com and huskerboard.com.
One fan created a photo illustration of red clouds enveloping the Coliseum...
Click to expand...

good publicity for the board...

and...

holy crap they mentioned me!!!! (albeit, calling me "one fan")...at least assuming they were talking about the same pic

:thumbs :D

 
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I would really like to see that pic and read the whole poem. Can someone post it if they have it? Thanks

GBR :thumbs

 
For weeks, the faithful have posted daily comments and predictions on websites such as bighuskerfan.com and huskerboard.com.
One fan created a photo illustration of red clouds enveloping the Coliseum...
Click to expand...

good publicity for the board...

and...

holy crap they mentioned me!!!! (albeit, calling me "one fan")...at least assuming they were talking about the same pic

:thumbs :D
Click to expand...
dude, they had to be talking about you, even if they weren't talking about you, they were atleast talking about YOUR pic. :thumbs

 
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