What makes a guy like big No. 71, Jeremiah Sirles, put himself back in the lineup a second straight game with a bum knee? It's not the Outback Bowl watch that's coming his way.
“We do it because we are playing for each other,” Sirles said. “You play for legacy. You play because you want to be remembered like this for a long time.”
Maybe, just maybe, there's a member of the 1992 or 1993 Nebraska team who just nodded his head.
“Championship teams get all the credit,” Brown said. “But if you ask them, they'll tell you that it was the guys on the teams before, in 1992 and 1993, who built it. They set up the culture that turned into a championship.
“We are not going to win the Big Ten championship. But this team is building something. This team has a lot of young guys who are maturing into a team right before our eyes.
“I think we're setting the stage for something special, to be honest with you.”
That sounds like a sales pitch directed to the ears of an athletic director. But Brown, who has worn championship rings and was also fired on Frank Solich's staff 10 years ago, speaks from the heart. He says what he believes.
The Huskers turned it over five times to Michigan State. They were listless at Minnesota. It's not all youth. When NU Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst makes his evaluation after the season, there's a big picture to consider, and that means the good, bad and ugly.
But if you're Eichorst, and you see a team that refuses to fold, a team with every reason to not show up for this one but showed up big, you have to ask yourself one question.
What if Brown is right?